At every Budget the Treasury is obliged to publish an impact assessment on the consequences of its policies.
During the George Osborne years the pattern was more or less the same.
The biggest losers were those in the poorest tenth of households.
Conveniently for Osborne, the second biggest losers were generally the top ten per cent of households – a statistic brandished by the right to present him as some kind of modern day Robin Hood.
It was rarely noticed that those in the seventh, eighth and ninth deciles were the main beneficiaries of the Conservatives’ tax and spending plans.
The Tories artfully presented the cuts they imposed as the necessary result of Labour’s failure to control spending.
They had no choice following the financial crash, they argued, but to reduce spending on welfare and public services.
(Image: PA)
This conveniently overlooked they did have a choice when it came to cutting corporation tax or handing tax cuts to hedge fund owners.
The implications of Osborne’s policies are set out in a report by Sir Michael Marmot.
A decade ago Sir Michael warned that growing inequality would lead to worse health and greater poverty.
And so it has come to pass.
Life expectancy has stalled or fallen, particularly for women in poorer households.
Cuts to schemes such as Sure Start combined with the assault on social security and reductions in local government spending have led to a rise in child poverty.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“There has been a slowdown in life expectancy of a duration not witnessed in England for 120 years,” Marmot finds.
“From the beginning of the 20th Century, England experienced continuous improvements in life expectancy, but from 2011 these improvements slowed dramatically, almost grinding to a halt.
“For part of the decade 2010-2020, life expectancy actually fell in the most deprived communities outside London for women and in some regions for men. For men and women everywhere, the time spent in poor health is increasing.”
Next month Rishi Sunak presents his first Budget.
There will be a lot of talk about levelling up.
Let’s see if that applies to those in the tenth poorest households too.
Today’s agenda:
9am – Boris Johnson chairs Cabinet.
11.30am – Justice questions in the Commons.
13.30pm (approx) – Opposition Day debate on tax avoidance.
4pm – Tory MP Aaron Bell has a Westminster Hall debate on the odour emitting from landfill sites.
What I am reading:
Tim Stanley in the Telegraph (£) on how Bernie Sanders could win the presidency.
