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The Budget Just Cut the Tax on Garlic. Here's Everything Else on the List
The 2026 Autumn Budget removes import tariffs on garlic, plus gherkins, marmalade, baked beans, chocolate and more. The Treasury says it saves about £21 a year - roughly 40p a week. No start date yet.
On Wednesday the Chancellor stood up in Parliament and cut the tax on garlic.
We'd like to thank him personally. From a safe distance.
Garlic is one of more than 100 products having their import tariffs removed in the 2026 Autumn Budget.
Here's what that actually means for your kitchen - and the rest of the shopping list it arrived with.
Now showing
Short on time? Here's the whole Budget in 39 seconds. Quicker than the Chancellor's speech. Fewer gherkins.
Starring Aaron checking every Budget since 1066, Tyson's gherkin heist, a royal decree on baked beans and Eesha's verdict on 40p a week. She was not impressed.
Garlic, the headline act
Right now, imported garlic carries a tariff of 8% plus £100 for every 100kg.
That second bit works out at about £1 a kilo.
A decent bulb weighs around 50g, so the fixed part alone comes to roughly 5p a bulb. Before anyone between the port and your basket decides whether to pass it on.
Is that going to change your life? No.
Is it the most important thing a Budget has ever said about garlic? Almost certainly. Aaron offered to check every Budget since 1066. We said no. He's checking anyway.
Either way, it's the perfect excuse to use more of it. Which, frankly, was always the plan.
Cheaper garlic, same old problem: your fingers. Squeeze it through our garlic press with the skin still on and you barely touch it. There's a whole guide on how to mince garlic without smelling of it until Thursday. The Treasury didn't cover that bit.
The rest of the shopping list
Garlic didn't get the tax cut all on its own.
The Treasury named a handful of the others, and they read like a very specific weekly shop.
- Gherkins - currently 12%. Big news for anyone who builds a smash burger around the pickles. The burger press has been waiting for this.
- Marmalade, citrus jams and pastes - currently 20% plus £19 per 100kg, the steepest on the list. Somewhere, a bear in a duffel coat is quietly celebrating.
- Baked beans - Erin, who is toast with beans on, has issued a royal decree declaring this the most important announcement of the year. She is not taking questions.
- Chocolate, including chocolate-coated waffles and wafers - currently 8%. Put it towards a proper hot chocolate. Not brown dust in hot milk.
- Boiled sweets, toffees and caramels - currently 8%. Isaac has already done the maths. He won't tell us the answer.
- Throat pastilles and cough drops - currently 8%. Handy, given the season. And the garlic.
- Plant-based drinks - soya, nut, oat and the rest, currently 8%. Froth it up for a latte at home. No barista. No attitude.
The full list runs to more than 100 products. These are the ones the Treasury put in the shop window.
The longer list (the one nobody read)
So what are the other 90-odd?
The Treasury hasn't published the final list in full yet. Aaron has refreshed the page 40 times. We've asked him to stop.
What we do have is the shortlist the government put out for consultation back in May - 125 "everyday essentials" in the running. Everything above came off it.
Here's the rest of that shortlist, in case your favourite is in there.
- Fruit and veg - aubergines, sweet and other peppers, olives (fresh, chilled and frozen), plantains, bananas, limes and other citrus fruit, avocados, fresh figs, other fresh fruit and frozen fruit. Avocado toast just got very slightly less smug.
- Dried fruit and nuts - dried apricots, apples, peaches and nectarines, pears, papaya and figs, mixed dried fruit, mixed nuts, and mixed fruit and nuts. The Christmas cake is quietly delighted.
- Grains - quinoa, couscous, buckwheat and fonio. Nobody in this house knows what fonio is. Isaac does. He's not saying.
- Oils and fats - extra virgin, virgin and other olive oils, vegetable oils, margarine, and mixed fats and oils. Plus green tea, which turned up in this lot like it was lost. Olive oil and garlic in the same Budget. Somebody in the Treasury cooks.
- More chocolate and sweets - white chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate spreads, chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal, chocolate drink mixes, cocoa powder and cocoa paste, plus chewing gum, liquorice, marzipan, sugar confectionery and sugar tablets. Erin has ordered a full royal inventory.
- Bakery and snacks - bread, toasted bread products, crispbread, rusks, biscuits, gingerbread, waffles and wafers, pizzas and quiches, crisps and processed potatoes. Aaron has noticed the potato content. He's choosing to take it personally.
- Tins, jars and sauces - preserved beans and vegetables, prepared vegetables, pickled peppers, preserved tropical and citrus fruit, candied fruit, mixed preserved fruit and nuts, tomato sauces, soups and broths, and tomato ketchup. Ketchup and gherkins on the same list. The smash burger sends its regards.
- Soft drinks - and the plant-based drinks from earlier. Oat milk had a very good week.
So how much will you actually save?
The Treasury puts it at about £21 a year on the average household's food shopping.
That's roughly 40p a week. Not quite a jar of gherkins. Close, though.
Chancellor John Healey said: "Today's everyday fixes are just a small part of what we are doing to give families a bit of breathing space."
The Food and Drink Federation, which speaks for UK food and drink makers, is less excited. Its chief executive Karen Betts said removing the tariffs "will have no meaningful impact on consumer prices".
We'll let the two of them sort that out. We've got garlic to crush.
How to spend your 40p
Garlic first. Obviously.
- Garlic bread - crunchy outside, squidgy middle, breath like a dragon.
- Garlic butter - five minutes, one bowl, everything tastes better.
- Garlic mushrooms on toast. Gone before you sit down.
- Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The Budget saving finally makes this one sound reasonable.
Buying in bulk to celebrate? Here's how to store garlic so it doesn't sprout, go soft or haunt the fridge.
Oliver has announced he'll be putting the whole 40p towards garlic. Aaron pointed out that's not how it works. Oliver pointed out that Aaron is a potato. Negotiations continue.
Quick answers
Is garlic cheaper now? Not yet. The tariff cut was announced in the 28 October 2026 Budget, but no start date has been given, and shops decide whether to pass any saving on.
What tax is on garlic in the UK? Imported garlic currently carries an import tariff of 8% plus £100 per 100kg. The Budget plan is to remove it.
Which foods are getting tariff cuts? The Treasury named garlic, gherkins, marmalade and citrus jams, baked beans, chocolate, boiled sweets, toffees and caramels, throat pastilles and plant-based drinks, among more than 100 products.
Is olive oil on the list? Olive oil was on the government's May shortlist of 125 everyday essentials, along with avocados, bananas, biscuits, bread, crisps and ketchup. The final list of more than 100 products hasn't been published in full yet.
How much will families save? About £21 a year on food shopping, according to the Treasury.
Now go and cook something. With garlic. It's practically government policy.
