Prayer and Praise Wall
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Tien
Welcome to our State of the Nation series, which looks at the coalition government’s progress over the past five years, across a range of key policy areas.
In his first speech to the Conservative Party Conference as prime minister in 2010, David Cameron drew on the slogan: “We’re all in this together” in the face of the economic challenges facing Britain at that time. Five years later, however, it is clear that it is in fact the poorest who have paid most dearly as a result of various coalition tax and benefit changes.
In the immediate aftermath of the recession of 2008-2009, the social security system generally did its job of providing a safety net for people in need. Those on the lowest incomes were largely protected by the uprating of benefits in line with inflation, whereas income from earnings did not keep pace with price rises. So between 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, for example, incomes fell generally for all groups but those at the top saw their incomes fall more than most.
Initial improvement
The first couple of years of coalition government therefore witnessed a reduction of income inequality. Relative poverty also fell because average incomes were falling faster than incomes at the bottom, and this is how relative poverty is measured. But if we measure income changes against a fixed threshold we see an increase in (absolute) poverty rates between 2009-2010 and 2012-2013.
I want my money back, Heavenly Father.
Please show your power and bring all these cheaters to justice!