By Andy Silvester
The former Chancellor George Osborne has said the government should extend taxes on sugary drinks to fruit juices and begin the process of phasing out smoking.
Speaking to the Times, the now chair of the British Museum said it was time to “look at the long-term legality of smoking.”
Osborne, who introduced a limited tax on soft drinks in 2016, also said it was time to look at taxing drinks with natural sugars in order to tackle the UK’s obesity epidemic.
“Most people think a glass of orange juice every day is a good thing,” he told The Times.
Britain is by most measures the fattest country in Europe, although smoking rates have continued to fall over the past decade, with 2021 seeing the lowest number of smokers on record.
Not all are convinced by calls to extend the soft drinks levy, or as it is often known the sugar tax.
The Institute of Economic Affairs has previously said any extension will “fail because people can choose to eat and drink what they want in a free country.
“The nanny state lobby’s solution is to stop Britain being a free country, and that is why they must be resisted.”
Osborne told The Times he was “very disappointed” that measures including banning junk food adverts have been “rolled back or cancelled or delayed.”
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