Commenting on the Environment Secretary’s plans to double carrier bag charges and extend them to smaller shops, the IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon said:

“The exemption for small shops reflected the fact that people don’t tend to take reusable bags with them when they pop into a corner shop. That was a sensible policy and it’s a shame the government has changed its mind and decided to burden corner shops and their customers with this regressive tax burden.”

Notes to Editors

For media enquiries please contact Nerissa Chesterfield, Head of Communications: nchesterfield@iea.org.uk  020 7799 8920 or 07791 390 268

The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems and seeks to provide analysis in order to improve the public understanding of economics.

The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.