Labour swept into government with a promise of economic growth.
That promise contained another, more important, promise: this growth would unlock prosperity for ordinary people.
The government made it a mission to raise living standards in every part of the country.
Politicians know all too well that most people want to feel like they’re getting on in life. They want to get on the housing ladder. They want to be able to start a family, have a comfortable retirement or pass something on to their loved ones.
When this doesn’t happen, politicians often take the blame.
So, the promise to raise living standards is an important one in politics but it is not an ambitious one. Outside of the last parliament, which was plagued by COVID and an inflationary crisis, every post-war government has managed it. Will Sir Keir Starmer?
New analysis by the Sky News Data x Forensics team is sobering. Disposable incomes – that’s average income after tax – are barely higher than they were in 2019.
We are only £1 a month better off now than we were before the pandemic.
Pic: iStock
Labour got off to a good start. The Tories, in their final year, oversaw a £126 increase in disposable incomes (adjusted for inflation), determined as they were to get a grip on inflation.
The new government built on that by boosting earnings for public sector workers – including rail workers and doctors – who received chunky pay rises. However, the country is now going backwards. In the first six months of the year, disposable incomes have fallen by £43.
So,…
