Now that Sunak has reversed a policy that didn’t exist in the first place – taxing meat – the question is whether it would be a good idea or not?
I can already hear the howls of protest from meat eaters, but bear with me …
Firstly there are all sorts of good reasons to discourage meat eating – environmental reasons and health reasons chief amongst them.
Secondly we should encourage the occasional consumption of high quality meat rather than constant consumption of low quality meat. This might mollify some of the British farmers – at least those who have very sensibly concentrated on quality rather than quantity.
So what we want is a flat rate per kilogram of meat – perhaps 25p per kilo of mince which would make Quorn mince a relatively cheap option, but not make much difference to quality mince.
Make meat a luxury not a necessity (because it isn’t).
