10p bag charge will be introduced in England from April 2021

Plastic bag fees in England will rise to 10p for all shops from April 2021, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The current charge of 5p for plastic bags excludes retailers with less than 250 staff members. But under the new rules, they will no longer be exempt.

George Eustice, the environment secretary, said that the move was to "continue to cut unnecessary waste and build back greener".

Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh retailers, big and small, already charge at least 5p for plastic bags.

These charges were introduced amongst the devolved nations at various stages, with Wales being the first to introduce the measures back in 2011 whereas England was the latest to introduce the charge, back in 2015.

Since the introduction of the fee in England, around 15 billion plastic bags have been taken out of circulation, subsequently reducing the amount of plastic waste on the coastline.

Sam Chetan-Welsh from Greenpeace says that the government is heading in the right direction but that it is "a small step".

He added that if the government were increasing charges for consumers, then ministers have "no excuse not to increase costs for the companies that are responsible for the escalating volumes of single-use plastic packaging in the first place".