Why should they do anything about it?
Because they are being told to by the Govt. They were asked first, said they would then did nothing, hence now stronger measures being taken.
There is a health crises going on if you hadn't noticed and the food industry is not blameless in that. They have unnecessarily high levels of salt and sugar in their food and it's a problem to the nation.
And no, business can't just do what they like, especially in highly regulated areas such as the food industry, they do have to do what they are told. Don't like it? Go into another less regulated business.
Unless you think there should be no regulations and the food industry can put anything they want into food?
Even this thread demonstrates that people want the full sugar versions.
So, 'what people want' is not the best measure of 'what is best' for the country. And before you come back with the 'individual responsibility' or 'why should I suffer because others can't control themselves' arguments, we've tried that and it most demonstrably doesn't work.
Punishing manufactures with a tax because they are supplying what the public want is perverse.
For a start the manufacturer is not being punished, it's the consumer who has to pay the tax. Secondly, the manufacturer doesn't have to reduce the sugar content if they think the consumer will pay the higher price. But obviously they think the price point is important so reduced the sugar.
No one is stopping you gorging yourself on sugar if you want, but to have so much intrinsically put into our food is ridiculous, especially since its just used as a cheap bulking agent for profit and has no useful nutritional aspect to it at all.