And evidence from abroad suggests that it will fail in its declared aim of reducing obesity.
Steve Double called for one on this site yesterday, but available evidence suggests it would be deeply regressive and would not work.
As a supporter of low taxes, I was less than enthusiastic about such proposals – but I’m now convinced that something must be done.
There are liberal-minded left-wingers on the right side of the fight for freedom, and patrician Tories on the wrong.
A model from abroad about how to deal with sugar problems without taxing it.
The Health Select Committee wants to automatically scrap its proposed sugar tax if it doesn’t work. This should be normal legislative practice, but it needs an attitude change.
The Conservative priority must instead be to ensure health policy is guided by experts in the field of nutrition, not enthusiastic amateurs spouting sound bites instead of science.
The Government has a sound case against such a regressive measure, but its accommodation of the public health lobby has left it without space to make it properly.
There is nothing uniquely evil about tobacco: the precedents set in the crusade against it will be used in time against all our vices.
The NHS is threatened by obesity, not mansions.
Especially so for smaller firms and entrepreneurs.