Labour’s failure on inequality

Gary Duncan has a really important and useful article in The Times today on the issue of persistent and deep-rooted relative poverty in the UK - something which transcends the political posturing of recent days and weeks over the furore about the abolition of the 10% starting rate of income tax.

“The stark truth is that after a decade of Labour Government, Britain is a nation of greater income inequality, in which the plight of the very poor has worsened. True, Labour has succeeded in lifting half a million children out of poverty since 1998. Yet the Government’s figures are based on a poverty line drawn at 60 per cent of average incomes. If it is placed, instead, at 40 per cent - officially defined as “severe poverty” - the picture looks much bleaker, with the numbers of children in such dire straits no lower than in 1997.”

This is a superb article to read for those students revising for exam questions on income and wealth inequality. A BBC news article from March highlighted the widening wealth gap and here is a reminder that inequality is not solely a question of disposable income.

The rest of Gary Duncan’s article can be found here