Inequality reaches record levels in the UK
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/05/08/inequality-reaches-record-levels-in-the-uk_6753261_19.html
Posted by Rewindcasette
Inequality reaches record levels in the UK
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/05/08/inequality-reaches-record-levels-in-the-uk_6753261_19.html
Posted by Rewindcasette
18 Comments
So lets privatise the NHS, not build more homes, privatise everything, let Corrupt Crypto boy Nige take over everything and do a great job with the country like he did with Brexit!
And they keep voting reform Ltd , funded by billionaires
“Quick Rupert, we need to make this about immigrants! Anything to distract from the ultra wealthy!”
I’m sure Reform will have a solution for this.
Also, a reminder that six of the 8 Reform MPs are ex-Tories, and their biggest funders (Chris Harborne, Jeremy Hosking) are ex-Tory donors.
Because let’s vote for the same people who ran this country into the ground from 2010-2024 and let it become of the most unequal countries in Europe. Simply because they now painted themselves in turquoise instead of dark blue!
I’m struggling to believe this tbh, isn’t minimum wage now £27k ie not far off the average salary of £35k? And also benefits have consistently gone up with inflation so are 30-40% higher than ten years ago, so where’s the inequality? Yes the economy is bad but it’s sucking for us all together.
Also whilst house prices went up loads in the past they are -30% adjusted for inflation since 2021 over the last five years. So if anything renters have had it better in the last few years especially now with Renters Reform.
And we have a ridiculously progressive tax system where anyone over £50k loses half their salary.
Unless they’re talking about billionaires getting ever richer, in which case that’s always been the case sadly. And right or wrong, whether a billionaire has £2bn or £20bn doesn’t really affect most regular people day to day.
The headline distorts the results of the review –
*”Inequality is particularly pronounced at the top of the income pyramid,” said Blundell. The top 1% of earners captured 15% of all taxable income for the 2018-2019 financial year, more than the bottom 55% of earners combined, the IFS Deaton Review showed.*
Wouldn’t it be better to consider after tax income and after benefits income?
*The top 1% also owned 20% of all household wealth in the UK. While this was the lowest share of total wealth among G7 countries,*
So before tax and benefits there is high income inequality vs other countries – but for household wealth the inequality is low vs other countries.
*Households with modest incomes benefit from a relatively generous system of government support, with more than £100 billion allocated to welfare every year, progressive taxation and several consecutive increases in the minimum wage, according to Blundell. “This has allowed them to partially catch up with their wealthier peers,” he said.*
Hence why we should consider after tax and benefits rather than before.
From the actual review – [https://ifs.org.uk/inequality](https://ifs.org.uk/inequality) –
*In the popular debate, inequality is commonly used as a shorthand for income inequality. This form of inequality, which is higher in the UK than in most European countries but has changed little since the early 1990s, is of concern to many.*
Changed little since the early 1990s?? But that doesn’t match the normal rhetoric found on Reddit! Nor does it match the headline ‘reaches record levels’.
Edit – a reminder of the difference ‘after tax’ makes –
*Growing Contribution: The top 1% contribution has increased from 22.7% in 2005-06 to over 28% today, meaning they pay 2.1 times their share of income.*
*Top 10% Share: The top 10% of income tax payers contribute over 60% of total income tax.*
>Households with modest incomes benefit from a relatively generous system of government support, with more than £100 billion allocated to welfare every year, progressive taxation and several consecutive increases in the minimum wage, according to Blundell. “This has allowed them to partially catch up with their wealthier peers,” he said.
That right there is the real problem. And the taxes on productive workers that fund all this largesse? In addition to inflating rent, they’re the reason why being in the top 10% ain’t all that.
I’m sure our new Reform overlord men of the people will figure it all out and close the wealth gap. That’s their whole platform probably. I won’t check though I’ll just vote with my big stupid racist heart. ❤️
Why is there always a focus on reducing inequality rather than just making things better for the worse off even if the richest get richer at a quicker rate?
Ok here’s the plan
Increase english and welsh spending per head to match Scotland
Don’t Increase Scottish funding to match
Put all the money into social programs
*plays three lions* wooo uk number one!
Seriously tho when will people stop looking at right, left or centre and just look up at the people abusing the system.
So what can be done to improve in equality? Mandatory work, forced education and training, perhaps fines for staying in the same dead end job all your life. Perhaps we could just admit some people aren’t equal to others and stop worrying about it.
Communist china has more wealth and income inequality than we do. Most of our wealth is in homes, which we continuously pump up. Our welfare state and chasing away of investment does most of our redistribution for us.
And we keep being told by the press that taxing the rich isn’t the solution… the press owned by rich people and written for by rich people, some of whom got rich writing about immigrants being a problem and bringing over scary Muslim extremism… and living in Dubai.
If you want to be the best, if you want to beat the rest, dedication’s what you need
Anybody watch that handcuffed thing on channel 4? The first episode with the normal guy and the ultra rich guy who has a dinner party – I didn’t think those people still existed, let alone complained about how “times are tough” while having manservants on payroll and hosting lavish black tie dinner parties. The really drunk guy with awful teeth was a stereotype straight out of the laziest 19th century american satirical magazine
This is what austerity has caused. An even bigger divide. And now we got fascists who want to widen that gap harder than ever
What does it matter… there is never going to be an improvement… we’ll all be competing over the right to live in the same shitty little properties a century from now.
Give everyone a million quid a month, and suddenly the landlord charges £990,000.
It’s the same thing in every modern economy. We’re not allowed to become middle-class because the middle-class uses too many air-miles. So suppress wages by not building enough properties and add record number of new workers… and that way we keep the status quo which is just the way our ‘betters’ like it.