SIR Keir Starmer was last night slammed for introducing another Net Zero tax increase.
Hard-up households could see bills rise by up to £56 a year after the PM quietly signed off a new levy on plastic packaging.
The “grocery tax” is expected to push up prices as retailers and manufacturers pass the cost on to their customers.
An impact assessment of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme estimates the levy will raise £1.4billion in its first year, with consumer bills rising by between £28 and £56.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice told The Sun: “Labour’s unrealistic Net Zero plans are being exposed for what they are — a farce that makes life more expensive for working people.”
Lord Craig Mackinlay, chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, warned that the “little noticed” tax would “add unnecessary costs on consumers”.
The scheme was originally proposed by Michael Gove when he was Environment Secretary but ditched after Tory MPs objected.
Conservative peer Lord David Frost said it was right to abandon the idea after realising it was too expensive — something the PM “doesn’t care about”.
A spokesman for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Packaging reforms will create 21,000 jobs and stimulate more than £10billion investment in recycling over the next decade.”
