Ella Mills, , reckons the UK should introduce a tax on meat and ultra-processed food.
The influencer, 32, is the daughter of Camilla Sainsbury – head of the supermarket dynasty – and former Secretary Shaun Woodward.
Although she comes from the Sainsbury family, Ella is best-known though for her vegan food brand and blog Deliciously Ella, which she launched in 2012. It is now worth a reported £60million.
In a recent interview, the foodie blogger has stressed people need a ‘nudge’ to stop eating so much meat in the UK – and this should be done through some sort of tax.
Speaking to Cathy Newman on Times Radio’s The Ladder, Ella responded to the question of whether a meat tax is the way to go, with: ‘I think all these questions would be on the table, I really do.
‘Ultimately, if we want to be a country that’s leading the way for an environmental perspective, you know, on that point, then we do need to eat less meat. We know we need to eat about two thirds less meat.’
When Cathy asked whether tax should reflect this change, Ella said that although the suggestion seems a bit ‘nanny state’, leaving people to their own devices ‘isn’t working’.
‘The NHS can’t afford to keep going the way it’s going. So what do you do? And I think you have to start looking at that sort of thing.
‘Can you then take some of that funding and channeling it into making fruit and vegetables cheaper and more accessible to people?’ she offered.
So that could mean subsidising fruit and vegetable costs with a meat tax, asked the host.
‘Or more tax on ultra processed food,’ Ella suggested.
‘The cheapest food in [the supermarket] is the food that is actively, really bad for us, and again, I think we need infinitely more education on that,’ she continued, before clarifying that she’s aware these are the cheapest options in the cost of living crisis.
She concluded: ‘It’s a very difficult conversation to have, but we need to nudge people.’
Last year Rishi Sunak rejected the notion of a meat tax as he set out changes to the UK’s green policies.
However, he was later accused of playing strawman politics as many said a meat tax was never on the table in the first place.
Although it is thought a meat tax could indeed benefit the climate, its impacts on the agricultural sector and into wider society could cost the UK economy almost £250million a year, according to a.
The National Food Strategy report – an independent review for the government – called for a 30 per cent reduction in meat consumption back in 2021 but steered clear of suggesting a meat tax, calling it ‘politically impossible’.
Ella also shared that until recently she ‘really, really retreated’ sharing too much of herself in the public eye due to trolls.
‘I wanted to be essentially vanilla,’ she told .
The businesswoman said to deal with ‘personal’ and ‘incredibly violating’ attacks, it was easier to keep her social media page all about the food, with as little of her personal life exposed as possible.
