Jamie Oliver and health charities have welcomed a sugar tax that could hit drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull and Fever Tree tonic water.

The celebrity chef was among those who expressed joy at the surprise move, unveiled by George Osborne as part of the Budget.

The tax - which will be brought in in two years' time to give manufacturers time to drive down the sugar content of their drinks - is expected to raise £520 million. This will be used to double the amount of funding for sport in every primary school, with secondary schools encouraged to offer more sport as part of longer school days.

Drinks with 5g of sugar per 100ml will face a lower rate of tax while those with more than 8g per 100ml will face a higher rate.

The rates of tax have not yet been set, but the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated it could add 18p to 24p to the price of a litre of fizzy drink if the full cost is passed on to the consumer.

Shares in listed drinks firms dropped sharply on the London stock market after the announcement.

Oliver took to Instagram and Twitter within minutes of Mr Osborne declaring a tax, saying on Instagram: "We did it guys!! we did it!!! A sugar levy on sugary sweetened drinks ...... A profound move that will ripple around the world ....business can not come between our Kids health !!"

Asked later what he thought of the impact, he said: "The exciting bit about of it is theoretically there's £500 million going into primary schools across Britain to be invested in breakfast clubs and sports. That ain't no bad thing.

"I didn't find out until today that this was going to be in the Budget. And more than that I didn't think we would ever get it. I never thought we were going to get this."

Tory MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, chairwoman of the Commons health committee has previously accused ministers of suppressing the findings of a review by Public Health England (PHE) on the issue.

She said on Twitter: "Delighted to see action on sugary drinks in #Budget2016 in a way which encourages reformulation & boosts Childrens sport funding. Drinks like Coke & Pepsi contain 10.6g sugar/100ml so now a clear incentive to reduce below 8g."

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: "This bold and welcome action will send a powerful signal and incentivise soft drinks companies to act on the health consequences of their products.

"Obesity now affects one in five children, causes one in five cancer deaths, and already costs the NHS £5 billion a year - so obesity is the new smoking."

Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said the tax "should not be absorbed by the soft drinks industry".

He added: "Prices need to change, otherwise there will be no impact on the health of the nation."

Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children's Food Campaign, said: "This is a really important victory for children's health. Not only will this tax on sugary drinks encourage people to shift towards healthier drinks, but it sends out a wider message about our need to cut down on sugar, and for businesses to reduce the sugar in their products."

British Soft Drinks Association director general Gavin Partington said: "We are extremely disappointed by the Government's decision to hit the only category in the food and drink sector which has consistently reduced sugar intake in recent years - down 13.6% since 2012.

"We are the only category with an ambitious plan for the years ahead - in 2015 we agreed a calorie reduction goal of 20% by 2020. By contrast, sugar and calorie intake from all other major take home food categories is increasing - which makes the targeting of soft drinks simply absurd."

Roger White, the chief executive of AG Barr, whose biggest brand is Irn-Bru, also described the move as "extremely disappointing".

Mr Osborne told MPs that obesity costs the economy £27 billion a year.

He added: "One of the biggest contributors to childhood obesity is sugary drinks. A can of cola typically has nine teaspoons of sugar in it. Some popular drinks have as many as 13. That can be more than double a child's recommended added sugar intake."

He said manufacturers recognised there was a problem and had started to reformulate their products with less sugar.

But Mr Osborne said he was "not prepared to look back at my time here in this Parliament doing this job and say to my children's generation: 'I'm sorry. We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks. We knew it caused disease. But we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing'."

Pure fruit juices and milk-based drinks will be excluded from the tax.

Professor John R Ashton, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said he "warmly welcomed" the news.

"Today's announcement is a significant moment for our health, because one in three children and two in three adults in the UK are obese or overweight.

"The average child consumes over 100 calories a day from sugar sweetened drinks, representing one 10th of their entire daily intake. Regular consumption of sugary drinks can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and rotten teeth."

The tax will be imposed on companies according to the volume of the sugar-sweetened drinks they produce or import.

There will be two bands - one for total sugar content above 5g per 100ml and a second, higher band for the most sugary drinks with more than 8g per 100ml.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt added his support for the tax, writing on Twitter: "Parents over Britain will welcome sugary drinks levy to fund doubling of school sport budget. More 2 do on childhood obesity but great start."

Coca-Cola Great Britain general manager Jon Woods said: "We understand obesity is an issue that needs to be addressed and will continue our work to reduce the sugar and calories consumed from our drinks. We have already done a great deal and our actions are doing more to reduce sugar and calorie intake than a tax will.

"It's disappointing that the Government has chosen to single out soft drinks in its attempt to tackle the problem. If the aim is to reduce obesity, this levy flies in the face of evidence from around the world which shows taxes do very little, if anything, to reduce sugar and calorie intake or obesity levels but do add to people's cost of living."

Britvic said singling out soft drinks alone would not solve the obesity problem, "given the small proportion of calories they contribute in the average diet".

The company said: "As the Chancellor recognised during his speech, Britvic has already voluntarily made significant progress in calorie and sugar reduction, taking bold steps to remove over 18 billion calories since 2012. Britvic is also committed to continuing to materially reduce the average number of calories consumed per serve.

"We will review the details of today's announcement and will fully engage in the Government consultation process. We remain of the view that only a holistic, wide-ranging strategy will tackle obesity."