The UK government should consider taxing unhealthy foods and
sugary drinks in an effort to improve children’s health and
combat diet-related illness, according to a new report from food
and farming campaign group Sustain. The report , called “A
Children’s Future Fund”, highlights the high cost of diet-
related illness to the National Health Service, estimated at
£6bn (€7bn) a year. As a first step, it suggests that a 20p tax
on each litre of sugary soft drinks could raise about £1bn
(€1.17bn) each year, and recommends ring-fencing the revenue to
set up a fund for improving children’s health. In the longer
term, it says that an overhaul of food and beverage taxes could
reflect the relative healthiness of foods and beverages – and
foods that are not environmentally sustainable could also be
considered for taxation. In the short term, Sustain urged the
chancellor, George Osborne, to include a sugary drinks duty in
his budget on March 20. Backed by 61 organisations The proposals
have been backed by 61 organisation