Defence secretary Philip Hammond was on the Daily Politics today and made a startling claim: that living standards are starting to rise again.
Defence secretary Philip Hammond was on the Daily Politics today and made a startling claim: that living standards are starting to rise again.
When asked by presenter Andrew Neil where he got the data showing living standards improving, however, he drew a blank.
Perhaps we can help him out.
Delivering its verdict on George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last week, director of the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson said the following:
“We do know from household surveys that income fell sharply in 2010 and 2011. It is almost certainly significantly lower now than it was in 2010.”
He added that:
“while it [income] should start to grow, it will surely still be below its 2010 level by the time we get to the election in 2015.”
In other words, Philip Hammond hasn’t got a “specific measure” because there isn’t one. Living standards will be worse at the end of the current parliament than they were at the start.
7 Responses to “Philip Hammond claims living standards are rising. Backs up the claim with…nothing”
John
I think the riots in 2011 will end up being a regular event if these stupid politicians don’t wake up soon.
blondebuster
Retail sales up by 2% volume year to 2013 proves there is no standard of living crisis, of course the fall in output of 7.2% in 2009 made people poorer, but whose fault was that?