Sorry Guido, but there really is a cost of living crisis and it's getting worse under a Tory government.
Guido Fawkes has put up a curious post this morning in which he claims that, rather than there being a cost of living crisis, voters are actually better off now than they were in 2010:
“Throw in the income tax threshold hike (£493), the savings from holding down council taxes (£210) and you have already countered the Balls attack in cash terms – and some – at £1,703. Meaning that in terms of disposable income the “average working person” is better off.”
In other words, the rise in personal allowance and the fact that council taxes haven’t significantly increased since the coalition came to power outweighs the fall in living standards due to prices rising faster than wages.
Unfortunately for Guido and the Tories, this is simply untrue.
Even when excluding the impact that falling wages are having on peoples’ living standards, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that taking into account tax and benefit changes since 2010 a majority of working households are worse off now than they were when the coalition came to power.
As senior research economist at the IFS Robert Joyce puts it:
“Looking at all the measures that are happening that started in 2010 and that are happening to the end of this parliament, if you look at all the measures announced over that period, then most of those families will lose overall because of things like the main rise in VAT back in January 2011.”
And as John Rentoul has also recently noted on disposable income, comparing the last whole year of Labour – Q3 2009 to Q2 2010 – with the most recent year to Q2 2013, real households’ disposable income per head fell by 2.2 per cent.
Sorry Guido, but the coalition really are presiding over a cost of living crisis.
35 Responses to “Sorry Guido, but the Tories really are presiding over a cost of living crisis”
LB
So you’re not getting other people’s money – tax credits – they are better off.
Has your productivity increased to justify the extra money?
You’re not getting other people’s money – HB – they are better off.
You’re still getting a subsidised rent – council house – paid for by someone else – and you want more of their money?
Here’s an off the wall idea. Go up to someone else’s door, knock on it, and ask them for the money directly. Cut out the middle man. You could even thank them for the hand out.
LB
Just wait until the real disaster. Pensions. The state hasn’t invested, its spent. The pensions debt is going up at 734 bn a year (ONS), with total taxes at 600 bn. You don’t have to be a socialist to work out the consequences
Who gets hit the hardest? The poor. They were forced to rely on the state, and the state has defrauded them. That’s social pensions for you.
Frank100
phowee!
frank100
Some aspects were carried on by new labour within the framwork determined by thatcher but they managed to achieve quite a bit of good too! We have seen how thatcherism culminated with the banking crash in 2008.
Dr Lathwell
Tory’s promised to match the spending in 2007. Some of the material they’ve been deliberately deleting over the past week, along with Osbornes speech that he’d deregulate the banks and financial sector further, which would’ve caused a greater debt burden.
Go out and research the subject not just listen to the Tories bull! You’ve got a brain – use it!