Plastic bags: Charge could rise to 10p and be extended to smaller shops

Since October 2015, customers have had to pay at least 5p for each single-use bag - with all retailers employing more than 250 people made to take part in the scheme.

Many of the seven major supermarkets have already stopped selling single-use carrier bags in their stores. Sainsbury's 5p bags are thicker and stronger, so they are not considered to be single use, while Tesco only sells 10p bags for life.