Relations between the government and the UK's leading supermarkets are in danger of deteriorating in the wake of the government's threat to impose a tax on plastic bags.

According to reports in The Guardian newspaper, environment secretary Hilary Benn this week met with the bosses of a number of the UK's leading supermarkets who expressed concern that the threat of a tax on plastic bags would undermine existing voluntary agreement to cut bag use.

Marks & Spencer's Sir Stuart Rose, Tesco's Sir Terry Leahy, Andy Bond of Asda and Justin King of Sainsbury’s joined bosses from Morrissons, Somerfield and the Co-op for the discussion, which one source said had turned into a "very heated debate".

Both Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's confirmed they were represented at the meeting, but declined to comment on the nature of the discussion. A spokeswoman for Tesco also confirmed the company was represented, but insisted that it covered "a wide range of issues, not just bags".

However, according to reports the supermarkets urged the government to ditch its threat to impose a tax on single-use carrier bags, accusing it of pandering to a Daily Mail campaign for bag use to be curbed.

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced plans in the budget to impose a charge on plastic bags if the supermarkets failed to make good on voluntary targets to cut the "environmental impact" of plastic bags by 25 per cent by the end of the year.

The retailers are understood to have told Benn that the government risked losing their co-operation if it did impose a levy and warned that they would reconsider signing up to future goodwill agreements.

"There just won't be any voluntary agreements in the future if they move the goalposts halfway through," one chief executive reportedly claimed.

However, there are signs that the government's recent focus on plastic bags is paying off. Marks & Spencer has already started charging for food carrier bags, while Tesco said its usage is down 40 per cent, in part as the result of its offering Clubcard points to shoppers who decline to use the free bags on offer.

A spokeswoman for Tesco said that the success of the scheme highlighted the extent to which voluntary deals can work.

"If other retailers can achieve cuts in bag use similar to ours, then the government will see the scale of change," she observed.