Forget fair play – we are example of how inequality ruins a nation’s prospects

Duncan Exley, director of The Equality Trust, says urgent action is needed to see off political extremism, worse life expectancy, educational outcomes and crime 

Going hungry: A volunteer sorts through donations at a foodbank

The UK today is one of the developed world’s most unequal countries.

Far from being a beacon of fair play, we are now an example of how inequality can ruin a nation’s prospects.
A High Pay Centre report says this week that the poorest fifth in the UK now have incomes closer to the poorest in former Eastern bloc countries than to those in Western Europe.

And today we learn from the Poverty and Social Exclusion study one in three Britons cannot afford the basics of a decent life.

In contrast, the wealth of the richest 100 people rose last year to £297billion – more than the wealth held by 30% of the population.

This rise in wealth could pay the energy bill for all 26.4 million UK households for over a year.

People from the Pope to the International Monetary Fund have warned us excessive inequality has negative consequences. So why is the UK so unequal?

Many justifications are made for the extraordinary increase in wealth of the richest. But can 100 people really have as much value as almost 19 million people?

Others say it doesn’t matter, because the economy is on the up.

But our recovery is only being felt by those at the top. Polling this week found only one in five think the recovery is making their family better off.

The contempt such an attitude shows for ordinary people is breathtaking.

You may be struggling to pay your rent, you may be forced to choose between heating your home and feeding your children, but don’t worry, Britain’s on the mend.

GDP figures won’t pay the bills, real wage increases will. The UK today is trapped in a race to the bottom of low-paid, low-skilled economies.

Poverty levels similar to those found in former Soviet states cannot just be blamed on worklessness.


Government figures show us that a majority of children in poverty are in working families. This is largely a low-pay crisis.

As bosses have bargained for higher and higher pay, ordinary workers are left with stagnating or even falling real wages.

While the poor can’t take the blame for their poverty, the rich can’t take all the credit for their fortunes.

Those who manage our biggest companies are typically paid over £4million a year – far more than is typical in Europe. Others in the UK’s top 1% owe their increasing riches to the luck of the stock markets.

Studies have shown how more unequal countries have worse life expectancy, health, educational outcomes, social mobility and crime.

Inequality is also ruining our economy, because the majority of people have little spare cash to spend in the shops, while a minority are using their spare millions to speculate on the housing market, making homes unaffordable for others.

The UK is a country where sales of luxury handbags for dogs are booming while working people are in poverty.

These are the conditions in which extremist political movements traditionally flourish.

If this country is not to become a political, social and economic basket case, the Government must take action.

We need to create well paid jobs beyond the capital.

We need a proper rise in the minimum wage so the taxpayer doesn’t spend so much subsidising Scrooge employers.

We need the rich to pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than those on low and middle incomes.

But most of all we need to reduce the growing gap between the richest and the rest, otherwise the United Kingdom will be a fractured, fractious kingdom if it remains as unequal as this.

Mirror