Sugary Drinks Tax

If the right hon. Gentleman is so eager to get in, I will give way.

I am eager to get in on that point, because I think it is rather facilely simplistic to suggest t...

The right hon. Gentleman will learn that diet is actually the major factor. I will go on to say a...

As the father of two young children aged seven and four, I entirely endorse what the hon. Lady ha...

Order. I remind hon. Members that interventions should be kept brief, and that they should be que...

The right hon. Gentleman flatters me by saying that we are of the same generation; I think he is ...

Does the hon. Lady share my concerns about the new trend for having soft drink vending machines i...

The hon. Lady makes a fair point, and I will come to what is happening in schools later in my spe...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the voluntary approach to the food and drink industry is not worki...

That is a reasonable approach, and I will come to that in a minute. The right hon. Member for Cit...

A tax on sugary drinks has been Plaid Cymru policy for a number of years in Wales. The Labour par...

I never take what Plaid Cymru says about the Labour party in Wales at face value; I am used to it...

rose—

rose—

I am not sure which of these defenders of the Government to take first. I will take the hon. Memb...

I am probably not the best qualified person to speak about this, having judged a cake competition...

Yes, the hon. Gentleman is right that we need much clearer labelling. As I will come on to say, t...

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady. She is making a powerful case, of which I am somewhat p...

The public health responsibility deal has had a fair trial over the past five years. The House of...

Does the hon. Lady agree that it is also down to personal responsibility and choice, and that it ...

If we were dealing with a level playing field, the hon. Lady might be right, but we are not. We a...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will take one more intervention, then I am going to make some progress, because other Members n...

On the issue of personal responsibility and consumer choice, as my hon. Friend will know, the Wor...

That is right. I have already said that clearer labelling has a role to play, but the Government ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I will finish now if the right hon. Gentleman will forgive me. He has made several interventi...

Do you want a debate?

Order.

I have said to the right hon. Gentleman that I will not give way again.

The Government need...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I have said several times that I will not give way again. I will now wind up my speech. The h...

Owing to the number of Members who have requested to speak, I may have to impose a time limit on ...

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones), Jamie Oliver and Sustain for...

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rose—

In tandem! I am spoiled for choice.

Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that there is already a tax on sugary drinks, in that VAT is levi...

Of course, but let me be clear that the point of a sugary drinks tax is to introduce a price diff...

Does my hon. Friend recognise that one concern that some of us have about a tax on sugary drinks ...

In an ideal world, I agree, it would be nice not to have to do any of that, but I return to the p...

Does not that point also suggest that the distribution of education interventions is not being fo...

I ask my hon. Friend to look later in our report, where we set out some of the evidence on delive...

Sugary drinks are not just about obesity; dental decay is also an important issue, and it affects...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In our report, we highlight that the single biggest cause of ...

Does the hon. Lady agree that efforts to improve the education of parents tend to reach middle- c...

Yes. As I pointed out, we could end up inadvertently widening health inequalities. The hon. Lady ...

I support a sugar tax. In Mexico, the average person has half a litre of Coke every day. Did the ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but the point is that we wanted to respond to th...

It is only fair that we give some credit to the industry, as my hon. Friend has done, particularl...

Order.

A significant number of health charities also have a big financial interest in this debate, and i...

Order.

I thank my right hon. Friend, and I should say for the record that I have no financial interest i...

rose—

I can feel another point coming on here.

I declare an interest, because I have a Britvic plant in my constituency. My hon. Friend is talki...

I am sure that will be part of it, but as I have said, I am not here to beat industry over the he...

The hon. Lady will know that I put forward a sugar Bill supporting sugar being denominated in spo...

I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. We have seen that where companies want products to be...

It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow the two marvellous opening speeches....

Would the hon. Gentleman like to reflect on the comment made earlier, about the record of his par...

We have had a—[Interruption.] Exactly, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West (Ge...

Order. May I remind the hon. Gentleman that the subject of the debate is a tax on sugar and sugar...

Yes, Sir. Thank you, Mr Chairman. I was unfortunately—inadvertently—diverted from the point invol...

Is my hon. Friend aware that last night on Welsh television the Welsh Minister for Health and Soc...

I did see the programme; it was the Welsh segment of the “Politics Show”. That is why I find the ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will, but I am taking rather a long time.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Will he recognise that all the companies he just menti...

I am sure that there was a great outcry from the municipal and general torturers union in the Sou...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not give way again; I am taking up other people’s time.

We cannot use the excuse of ...

rose—

I will give way, but for the last time.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I am reflecting on his comments about the Gov...

The hon. Gentleman has not been here long. I have been here for 28 years, and I think he will fin...

Order. I am hopeful that it will not be necessary to impose a time limit on Back-Bench speeches, ...

I rise to outline why changing our habits when it comes to sugar in our diet is so vital. It is n...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I do not wish to be accused of being in the pay of ...

I think the wrestler that my hon. Friend is referring to is called “Sugar Daddy”, not “Big Sugar”...

Is there evidence that if price is increased, consumption will reduce? Was that part of the evide...

I recommend that my hon. Friend reads the report. The evidence from other countries is that the i...

My hon. Friend mentions, and I concur; it is fantastic exercise, and its health benefits mean tha...

I completely agree. I always enjoyed my competitive sports at school. I was a sprinter, and I pla...

Wrestling?

Not wrestling, no.

The issue is partly about exercise, but it is also about food. There is ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hamilton, and a pleasure to follow the hon....

Sky Ride is open to anybody of any age. I encourage the right hon. Gentleman to find his local Sk...

I will, but for me it will not be Sky Ride; it will probably be Skyfall. However, I will look up ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hamilton. I, too, speak as a member of the ...

I thank the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) for securing this debate. I am gratefu...

On the point about sugary drinks and sports, does the hon. Gentleman think that a lot of confusio...

I could not agree more. That is one of the biggest problems. People drink lots of sugar, which ge...

Will the hon. Gentleman reflect on the fact that, sadly, a massive proportion of those who are ob...

The hon. Gentleman is right. Once again, it is the poorest who do not know how to make such choic...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr McCabe. I thank my hon. Friend the Member f...

I am a late contributor to a long debate, so some of what I say will have been touched on, but I ...

Says the hon. Member for Danone.

Yes, sorry. I am a secret lemonade drinker—no, I’m not.

I want to be brief, but we are disc...

Hopefully not at primary schools.

No, but alcopops and such things have always been popular with young people, because they look ha...

We have just over an hour, but I remind Members that we do not have to fill the entire time. I wo...

Thank you, Mr McCabe. I am actually Dr Whitford; Eilidh Whiteford—my hon. Friend the Member for B...

The hon. Lady is speaking with her customary authority on the subject. Does she agree that the in...

As the hon. Member for Totnes mentioned, the people who make such choices tend to be those who ar...

It is a pleasure to speak in the debate with you in the Chair, Mr McCabe. I thank my hon. Friend ...

On a point of order, Mr McCabe. Like you, I sit on the Panel of Chairs. I was here for the first ...

You are welcome to intervene in the debate, Mr Davies, but we have moved on to the winding-up spe...

I appreciate that, but I was wondering whether you might exercise some discretion.

No, we are going to continue with the winding-up speeches.

I was saying that I have concerns about how children and their families manage in the school holi...

Does my hon. Friend accept that, if one wanted to make money out of a potato, the easiest way to ...

As I was saying, we should look at the whole range of options. I want to talk about health campai...

May I draw the hon. Lady’s attention to a novel approach that has come out of St Ninians primary ...

That type of initiative is wonderful, but fewer and fewer children are walking to school, and an ...

I absolutely recognise that physical activity is important and that it should be for everyone, ir...

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention, but I think it is a bit too easy to lose sight of ph...

On the relationship between sugar and calories, is my hon. Friend aware of emerging science showi...

I did not know that; my hon. Friend clearly has background knowledge and experience that I do not...

What an excellent debate we have had. It has been a real pleasure to listen to so many extremely ...

I happen to have introduced econometric modelling to Unilever. Would the Minister accept that if ...

I will touch on some of those points, but I want to take this opportunity to update the House on ...

What is the Minister’s justification for not introducing this measure?

Unless the hon. Gentleman continues to chunter at me from a sedentary position, I will come to th...

As the Minister would accept, there is an elasticity of demand for any product—namely a relations...

That is not right. Again, I come back to the point stressed in the report by Public Health Englan...

I expressed concern about budget cuts for Public Health England. Will the Minister address that? ...

As the hon. Lady will see, the campaign is going to be very significant again this coming January...

Will the Minister give way?

I am going to make some progress and develop my point about Change4Life, because Members have ask...

Will the Minister give way?

I am going to come on to teaspoons, and I do not want to run out of time before I do so. I will m...

For the public nowadays, “teaspoons of sugar” is more helpful than “sugar cubes”, because very fe...

I am aware of that; the point has been made to me a number of times.

Let me mention a few o...

Did the same apply to cigarettes? Were we not allowed independently to add the warnings and so on...

As we approach the transposition of the new EU tobacco directive, the hon. Lady will see that the...

Will the Minister give way?

Yes, but this will be the last intervention I take, because I want to leave time for the hon. Mem...

I simply want to ask whether there will be any space for views to be heard on restricting adverti...

We have already said that the childhood obesity strategy will be a comprehensive, cross-Governmen...

This has been an interesting debate, and I thank all who have spoken in it. We have heard the mes...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

No, I am winding up; I am sorry. The health of our children demands action now. If we do not take...