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Sugar and salt tax could save the NHS, says health service boss

People eating junk food - Victor Huang/iStockEditorial
People eating junk food - Victor Huang/iStockEditorial

Ministers should “take the bull by the horns” and introduce sugar and salt taxes to save the NHS, the head of England’s hospital leaders has said.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, urged the Government to be “bold and brave” in introducing such interventions – insisting the public wants more radical measures put in place.

Mr Taylor said that without firm action to improve Britain’s lifestyles, the NHS could be placed under “completely unsustainable” pressure.

The senior figure, who represents health trusts, said the NHS was already in a “precarious state”, raising fears that strikes by junior doctors would turn into a “prolonged war of attrition” with no end in sight.

Junior doctors are due to start their third 72-hour strike on Wednesday at 7am, with their leaders threatening to strike for three days a month throughout “summer and winter .. for as long as it takes”.

Mr Taylor said if the dispute continues into the autumn, there is a “real risk” that the Government’s pledges to cut waiting lists and eliminate waits of more than a year will not be met.

But the senior official – who was an aide to former prime minister Sir Tony Blair – suggested the greatest threat to the future of the NHS comes from Britain’s unhealthy lifestyle.

‘Public would back tax on unhealthy foods’

The Government commissioned a national food strategy that called for sugar and salt taxes to be imposed on foods, following the levy placed on fizzy drinks, and a review of smoking by Dr Javed Khan which recommended phasing out cigarettes entirely.

Both moves were rejected last summer as Boris Johnson’s government crumbled.

But Mr Taylor now urges the Government to think again, suggesting the public would back such measures.

“Unfortunately, the Government has already missed several key opportunities to shift the tide to helping the public improve its health for the better,” he said.

“These include failing to fully implement the Khan review on the ways in which we can make smoking obsolete by 2030, or its own food strategy which, despite being published a year ago, has seen its recommendations so far left languishing on a shelf somewhere in Whitehall,” he said.

Government inaction ‘is insane’

Henry Dimbleby, the restaurateur who wrote the strategy, which called for sugar and salt taxes, resigned from his role as Government food tsar earlier this year, accusing the Tories of “insane” inaction on obesity.

Mr Taylor said that “not going far enough on these recommendations” would have serious consequences – suggesting that a sugar and salt “reformulation tax” could encourage people to choose healthy foods, with the proceeds used to buy fruit and vegetables for low-income families.

Two in three adults in the UK are overweight or obese, with Mr Taylor warning that obesity has now overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the UK.

The senior figure, who unsuccessfully tried to become a Labour MP in 1992, was chief adviser on political strategy to Sir Tony as Labour planned the ban on smoking in public places.

As the NHS prepares for its 75th anniversary in July, Mr Taylor urged both major parties to be bolder in taking interventions to protect public health.

Speaking ahead of the NHS ConfedExpo, the organisation’s annual conference, in Manchester next week, he said: “I think the public understands that there is a need for change in how we view our own attitude to our health and well-being as well as how we can and should use the NHS.

“As we approach the 75th anniversary of the health service they want to see the Government grasp the bull by the horns and go further.”

Sugar tax would add to ‘nanny state’ fears

Calling for a new “social contract” with the public about “who is responsible” for improving health, Mr Taylor said that unless tackled “head on”, such issues “risk placing completely unsustainable additional pressures on the NHS”.

Last week. the think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs declared the UK one of the most draconian countries for restrictions on food and drink.

The “nanny state index” ranked the UK the second most restrictive country in Europe, as a result of the sugar tax on soft drinks and restrictions on marketing of food to children.

A delayed ban on “buy one get one free” offers for unhealthy food is due to come into force this autumn, while restrictions on TV and online adverts for junk food have been scheduled for 2025.

Sir Keir Starmer last month suggested Labour could introduce a tax on sugary and salty foods after the cost-of-living crisis eases.

Mr Taylor said new research showed the public is willing to “play their part” in improving their health - including using technology to stay out of hospital.

A survey of more than 1,000 adults carried out by the NHS Confederation, Ipsos Mori and Google Health found nearly four in five people would use technology to manage their health if recommended by the NHS – a figure which rose to nine in 10 among those aged 75 and over.

The research found more than one in three people is now using wearable technology and apps to monitor their health.

However, the survey found many older people relied heavily on friends and family, including the younger generations, for support to use technology.