Thatcherism saw child poverty grow by 121 per cent
Yesterday we ran a piece on the level of people living in poverty under Margaret Thatcher in response to a claim by Guido Fawkes which claimed the poor had "got richer under Thatcher". I dealt with a lot of this yesterday; but here is another graph showing a bit more straightforwardly the growth in relative poverty during the Thatcher years.
Yesterday we ran a piece on the number of people living in poverty under Margaret Thatcher in response to a claim by Guido Fawkes which claimed the poor had “got richer under Thatcher”.
I dealt with a lot of this yesterday; but here is another graph showing a bit more straightforwardly the growth in relative poverty during the Thatcher years.
Source: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/
Percentages are perhaps more helpful, however, because, as Tim Nichols of the Child Poverty Action Group put it, the numbers can be affected by changes in the size of different population groups (there were more pensioners, but fewer children at the end of Thatcher’s time in office). Percentages may therefore make more sense.
For relative poverty, in percentages and after housing costs, the changes from 1979 to 1991 were as follows:
- Whole population: 13%, increased to 24% – an increase by (not of) 85%
- Children: – 14%, increased to 31% – an increase by 121%
- Pensioners: 29%, increased to 36% – an increase by 24%
HT Tim Nichols of the Child Poverty Action Group.
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