Poorest have got poorer under Labour while the richest are better off, stark new figures show
New figures show the poorest households in England are getting poorer while the rich are seeing their disposable incomes increase.
Retail Economics data shows the amount the poorest households have left over after bills and essential expenses has fallen by 2.1 per cent since Labor came to power in July 2024. But the discretionary income of the wealthiest households increased by 10.3 percent.
These figures came as a big blow to Sir Keir Starmer, who was preparing to put the cost of living at the center of his New Year’s message to voters and his own MPs.
The findings come after Sir Keir vowed an “all-out war” on the rising cost of living.
With Labor still trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the polls and set to suffer heavy losses in May’s local elections, the Prime Minister is expected to highlight measures such as the latest cuts to energy costs due to come into force in April and the removal of two controversial child benefit caps at an event on Monday as ways the party can help voters.
In the new year message Daily Mirror“Late last year, a Scottish girl, aged just nine, gave me a note. She wrote about how poverty can affect children. The hunger that comes with missing breakfast, the cold of unheated rooms, the shame of worn-out school uniform. The fatigue and exhaustion that comes with it all.”
“To be honest, it was touching to see such a perception in a child. It’s shocking to think that the vast majority of children growing up in poverty in Britain today come from working families.”
He added: “That’s why we’ll lift more than half a million children out of poverty this year. By lifting the two-child limit on child benefit. By extending free school meals to half a million hungry children. And by waging an all-out war on the cost of living.”
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He also predicted in his new year’s video that the UK would “turn the corner” in 2026 and that people would start to feel a “sense of hope” in the coming months, despite the negative economic headlines in recent months.
Deputy reform leader Richard Tice said the following about the latest figures: Telegram The worker had “lost control” over the cost of living.
Graham Stringer, Labor MP for Blackley and Middleton South, said: “This is disappointing, but not surprising given that our energy policy subsidizes the affluent middle class through subsidies on expensive cars, heat pumps and other things, while increasing the size of poorer people’s bills.”
New figures from Retail Economics, an independent economic consultancy, look at discretionary income, which shows how much money families have left over after spending on essentials.
The group’s Nicholas Found said: “The reality is that low-income families are still struggling with the legacy of rising prices; finances are making up for this as the cost of everyday goods is much higher than it was four years ago.”
The figures include changes to tax and some bills that are not reflected in the Office for National Statistics’ official figures.
