Britain is on course for the longest period of falling living standards since records began in the 1950s, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.
The think tank found that under plans set out by Philip Hammond in the Budget yesterday, the poorest third of households are set for an average loss of £715 a year by the end of the Parliament, while the richest third will gain an average of £185.
Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable commented:
This analysis exposes the reality of Britain’s economic future under this Conservative government.
The squeeze on pay and living standards is set to carry on until 2025, made worse by higher inflation since the Brexit vote.
Meanwhile the Conservatives’ poor management of the economy means the budget will not be balanced until at least the 2030s.
This was a truly regressive budget that maintained the deepest of the Conservatives’ welfare cuts, hitting the poorest third of households hardest.
A Liberal Democrat budget would provide the large-scale investment in infrastructure, housing and research needed to boost living standards and productivity.
We would reverse the Conservatives’ cruel welfare cuts, and bring economic certainty by staying in the Single Market and Customs Union.
* News Meerkat - keeping a look-out for Liberal Democrat news. Meerkat photo by Paul Walter
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7 Comments
Off topic, but the current Politicalbetting website discussion thread relates to the LibDems and our prospects. It ought to be required reading!
The budget was a continued attack on living standards and cuts in services. Let’s not pretend that this is something new. Austerity has been ongoing since the Tories came to power in coalition with the Lib Dems. I welcome the moves made on tax during this time as an LD policy and that some of the worst plans of the Tories were vetoed. But I don’t recall much call for investment made by LibDems in government then.
Those who watched the Daily Politics on BBC2 at 12 noon today will have seen a behavioural economist. Those who are used to Andrew Neil will know that he can prove that most economic forecasts are usually wrong. The OBR are independent (to some extent anyway and Chope was interviewed).
Now watch Horizon from BBC4 9 pm until 10 pm. How people think about money is irrational (such as New York taxi drivers and rhesus monkeys at Yale). The psychologist won a Nobel prize, but not in psychology, in economics. There are lots of biases which enable people to think quickly, albeit wrongly.
Now go back to the Daily Politics and listen to the behavioural economist again. The computer models are based on rational (System 2) thinking, whereas most decisions are based on faster, (system 1) thinking.
I have often wondered how tennis players manage to think so fast. There may be part of an answer here.
I note the irony of Vince Cable accusing Phillip Hammond of ‘irresponsibility’ in selling RBS at a significant loss….
I’ll send Vince a letter, by ‘Royal Mail’, to remind him what ‘irresponsible’ looks like…
@ Richard Underhill Your post about Nobby Stiles earlier today was in very bad taste.
@ expats,
Before you stick it in a postbox, you might want to think about that. Yes, the price went up sharply after the share offer, but it’s now trading at below the price it closed at on its opening trading day, and the shares have significantly underperformed relative to the wider stock market. Was it undervalued, or were the risks inherent in the business – from foreign competition, and a strike prone workforce, relatively accurately priced in?
What made it popular early on, might I suggest, was the dividend, yielding rather more than the average savings account.
Mark, And you might wish to ponder on Vince’s list of 16 ‘privileged investors’….Most of whom having ‘advised’ on the selling price, sold on, within hours, for profits of up to 50%…