Healey pledges cheaper marmalade and gherkins in pre-Budget package

Healey pledges cheaper marmalade and gherkins in pre-Budget package

John Healey is removing import taxes on marmalade, gherkins and more than 100 products ahead of the Budget in a move aimed at giving families “breathing space” with the cost of living. The move is the latest by the government to try to ease cost of living pressures on households. The measures also include an…

John Healey is removing import taxes on marmalade, gherkins and more than 100 products ahead of the Budget in a move aimed at giving families “breathing space” with the cost of living.

The move is the latest by the government to try to ease cost of living pressures on households.

The measures also include an end to the so-called cliff-edge for those receiving carer’s allowance payments and higher tax-free mileage rates being made permanent.

But the Conservatives said the offer of “cheaper gherkins” was “an insult to families hammered by Labour’s tax rises”.

Ahead of the Budget, the government said it would remove tariffs on more than 100 “family favourite” products, while supporting farmers facing higher fertiliser costs and households reliant on heating oil.

These include:

  • Garlic

  • Gherkins

  • Chocolate-coated wafers and waffles

  • Boiled sweets

  • Toffees, caramels and similar sweets

  • Citrus jams, marmalades and pastes

  • Throat pastilles and cough drops

  • Plant-based drinks including soya, nut, cereal or seed

  • Kerosene

  • Fertilisers

The government said getting rid of the tariffs could save households up to £21 per year when combined with existing tariff suspensions that were introduced in June and applied to products including pasta, fruit juice and tuna.

Marmalade, for example, will see a 20% tariff, plus an additional £19 charge per 100kg imported, suspended.

Healey said that the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine had “hit families here at home through higher everyday costs”.

“We can’t control global events, but we can act where we can make a difference,” he added.

Other measures the government announced include:

  • Making permanent a 55p per mile tax-free mileage rate for those driving up to 10,000 miles for work, with the rate rising from 25p per mile to 35p above that

  • Allowing carers to earn more than an existing earnings limit without losing their entire allowance, replacing it with a taper mechanism instead

  • Giving two weeks of paternity pay to self-employed fathers, who have previously missed out on payments of up to £194 a week for the period

  • And rolling out hundreds of additional Post Office drop boxes to make sending parcels easier

The government will also freeze fuel duty again in the Budget, the BBC understands.

As first reported in The Sun, the 5p duty discount is also set to continue. That discount was first introduced in 2022, and was due to last 12 months, but has been extended ever since.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “We are taking on the big challenges facing the country. But that doesn’t mean losing sight of the everyday problems that cost people money or simply aren’t fair.

But the Conservatives said Burnham’s “everyday fixes” have already been wiped out by higher borrowing costs, taxes and inflation.

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said: “Shoppers face rising costs at the till and families are struggling to make ends meet, but Burnham’s plan is cheaper gherkins. This is an insult to families hammered by Labour’s tax rises.”

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