Downing Street denies plans for meat tax to drive down carbon emissions

Whitehall memo called for sector-by-sector introducition of carbon pricing

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Downing Street has denied the government is planning a new carbon tax which could force up the price of staples like meat and cheese as well as gas heating.

Speculation over the levy was sparked by a leaked Whitehall memo revealing that Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak had written to all departments asking for suggestions on how “some form of carbon pricing” could be introduced sector-by-sector across the economy over the next decade.

And No 10 and the Treasury did nothing to quash the idea on Thursday, refusing to comment on the issue ahead of Mr Sunak’s 3 March Budget.

An apparently well-source article in The Times suggested that proposals being drawn up to help the UK meet Mr Johnson’s pledge of net-zero emissions by 2050 could include a direct tax  on the most carbon-intensive services, such as meat and cheese production, or a shift in climate change levies from electricity to gas.

After reports that the tax could send prices of meat products soaring, a senior No 10 official today said: “This is categorically not going to happen. We will not be imposing a meat tax on the great British banger or anything else.”

Proposals are being drawn up for a carbon reduction blueprint to be unveiled ahead of the UN COP26 climate change summit being hosted by the UK in Glasgow in November.

Last year’s Energy White Paper set out plans for a national carbon trading scheme which ministers describe as “the foundation on which the UK achieves net-zero emissions cost effectively”.

A cap on carbon emissions would initially continue to be applied only to energy-intensive industries such as electricity generation and aviation, but would then be expanded across the economy to encourage reductions in greenhouse gas production, the paper said.