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A tax on plastic bags in Wales has seen the number given away by shops fall by up to 96 per cent.

The news will heap pressure on David Cameron to make good his promise to tackle the blight of plastic bags and introduce a levy in England.

As well as cutting bag use, the Welsh scheme has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charities.

The country has seen public support for the 5p tax rise from 59 per cent to 70 per cent since its introduction last October, according to researchers.

And the program is set to be the template for similar schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while cities and countries across the globe are pursuing similar controls.

The tax’s success is a vindication of the Daily Mail’s Banish the Bags campaign, which has won support from across the political spectrum and campaign groups including the Marine Conservation Society and National Trust.

A Cardiff University study into the Welsh bag charge, published yesterday, found that support for the scheme rose to 70 per cent six months after its introduction. Opposition dropped to just 17 per cent.

Over the same period, the number of shoppers who said they used their own bags on their  latest supermarket visit rose from 61 per cent to 82 per cent.