Milkshake tax planned to tackle childhood obesity in Rishi Sunak's first budget

The Chancellor could introduce a milkshake tax in Wednesday’s Budget to combat child obesity.

Rishi Sunak is considering whether the industry has done enough to remove sugar from the drinks.

And if he concludes it has not, he will hit milkshakes with the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.

That will put an extra 24p on drinks containing 8g of sugar per 100ml and 18p a litre on those with 5-8g per 100ml.

Financial Secretary Jesse Norman said: “If industry has not made enough progress on reducing sugar, the Government may extend SDIL to sugary milk drinks.”

As the Co-op’s Strawberry and Chocolate milkshakes contain 12g of sugar in 189ml bottles, they would escape the tax.

But Mullers Frijj chocolate ­milkshake at 10g/100ml would cop it.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering whether the industry has done enough to remove sugar from drinks (Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

Mr Sunak will also announce £5.2billion for 2,000 flood and coastal schemes to defend 330,000 homes.

A Whitehall source said: “We will be spending a lot more money in the North East, North West and Yorkshire.”

There will also be a £200million resilience fund for flood-prone areas.

Sajid Javid revealed he would have cut 2p off income tax had he not quit as Chancellor last month.

But the potential effects of ­coronavirus leave Mr Sunak with little room for manoeuvre.

Iain McCluskey of accountants PwC said: “He’s likely to avoid tinkering too much with personal taxes.”

Smokers will have to cough up an extra 31p on a £12.40 pack of 20 to boost the Treasury’s £9billion tax take on tobacco.

Cheaper £10 brands will go up 30p from 6pm on Wednesday.

Beer and spirits are likely to stay frozen, but wine is set to rise by 10p for a £6 bottle raising an extra £95million.

The aim behind the tax is to tackle childhood obesity (Getty)

Mr Sunak is still deciding whether to slap extra duty on motor fuel, meaning a 2p rise on a litre of petrol.

There will also be a three per cent stamp duty surcharge for foreign property buyers and a new anti-tax avoidance and evasion law.

Expect the Chancellor to borrow to fund extra NHS money, 20,000 more police officers and HS2 construction.

Mr Sunak may also reward Labour voters in the North who backed the Tories at December’s election with new hospitals, roads and bus services.

A Treasury source said: “This is the manifesto Budget.

"We made promises to voters and this will be the delivery.”