Brits face a whopping £1.6 billion price hike on everyday goods thanks to Ed Miliband’s new ‘Net Zero’ tax, according to the British Retail Consortium. The policy, the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, kicks in this week. It forces food and drink producers to cover the cost of packaging disposal – a bill of around £2 billion. Unsurprisingly, retail bosses say 80% of that will be passed on to consumers…
Andrew Opie of the BRC warned: “This is a multibillion-pound levy being paid by consumers during a cost-of-living crisis. They’ll ask: what are we getting for higher prices?”, while Sean Murphy of glass firm Encirc said: “This tax will hit everyone – in the supermarkets, pubs and glass factories that create thousands of jobs.” Net zero-sum game…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”