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John Rentoul
John Rentoul is chief political commentator for The Independent on Sunday, and visiting fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, where he teaches contemporary history. Previously he was chief leader writer for The Independent. He has written a biography of Tony Blair, whom he admired more at the end of his time in office than he did at the beginning.
You can contact John in the comments area or email him at j.rentoul@independent.co.uk
You can contact John in the comments area or email him at j.rentoul@independent.co.uk
Fraser Nelson, fresh from his triumph in trapping Gordon Brown into accusing the Conservatives of wanting to cut public spending by as much as he plans to, is now having a go at Labour's record on equality.
I'm not sure why he or the Institute for Fiscal Studies should have suddenly decided to recycle the "Households Below Average Incomes" data published by the Department of Work and Pensions in May (Table 2.2ts (AHC): Income shares and Gini coefficient, United Kingdom, on page 22 - pdf). But this is known.
Yes, the Gini coefficient was at its highest in 2007/08, but at 40 per cent it was only one percentage point higher than in 2006/07, 2005/06 and 1998/99, when it was 39, as against 37 in 1996/97. None of these variations is necessarily significant, despite the apparent upward lift at the end of the graph.
The larger point, however, is that the distribution of incomes would have been more unequal now had the Conservatives been in power for the last 12 years. Between 1979 and 1990, we had a government that was committed to greater inequality as a necessary by-product of its economic policy. That changed under John Major, who said that closing the gap between higher and lower incomes was an object of his government's policy. Since then we have had a Labour government that was more serious about tackling the underlying causes of inequality and roughly held the line against global economic forces tending to widen the gap.
I'm not sure why he or the Institute for Fiscal Studies should have suddenly decided to recycle the "Households Below Average Incomes" data published by the Department of Work and Pensions in May (Table 2.2ts (AHC): Income shares and Gini coefficient, United Kingdom, on page 22 - pdf). But this is known.
Yes, the Gini coefficient was at its highest in 2007/08, but at 40 per cent it was only one percentage point higher than in 2006/07, 2005/06 and 1998/99, when it was 39, as against 37 in 1996/97. None of these variations is necessarily significant, despite the apparent upward lift at the end of the graph.
The larger point, however, is that the distribution of incomes would have been more unequal now had the Conservatives been in power for the last 12 years. Between 1979 and 1990, we had a government that was committed to greater inequality as a necessary by-product of its economic policy. That changed under John Major, who said that closing the gap between higher and lower incomes was an object of his government's policy. Since then we have had a Labour government that was more serious about tackling the underlying causes of inequality and roughly held the line against global economic forces tending to widen the gap.
Comments
Not exactly a triumphant story though - it would have been worse under the Tories - even if it is true.
Cheers again
Because we are broke we have to be very brief.That changed under John Major, who said that closing the gap between higher and lower incomes was an object of his government's policy. John was right we are wrong So we are very brief
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla