Tories devastating record set to continue unless Budget delivers ‘desperately needed measures’ to recover living standards
In a bleak assessment of the Tories track record, the 2020s are on course to be the ‘second lost decade’ in living standards, a leading charity has warned the Chancellor ahead of his Spring Budget announcement.
Leading anti-poverty charity, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published the damning report on Monday, warning that, without political intervention, this Wednesday’s budget risks condemning Britain to another decade of declining living standards.
Based on current government spending plans, working families could be £1,900 a year worse off by 2029 than in 2021. While essentials are predicted to remain less affordable relative to post tax earnings until 2029.
The cutting analysis of the UK’s economic trajectory is a warning to Jeremy Hunt that if he fails to deliver immediate measures to support living standards in the coming budget, then this will be the result.
Decisive intervention from policy makers is what the charity has urged, as it warned that many families will be poorer by the end of the 2020s than at the start. While the Chancellor must prioritise providing long-term economic security for households requiring “the right political will” to turn the situation around.
Currently, post-tax earnings are £2,400 a year lower for the average working family than they were in 2021, while essential goods and services for the average family are £270 a year more expensive than at the beginning of 2021, the JRF research found.
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