The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


We’re just going to leave this here

Posted on February 08, 2012 by

The image below is a (slightly edited) graph (untouched original here) from The Poverty Site, an independent blog which monitors official UK government stats relating to poverty. It shows the gaps between the two richest and two poorest deciles of society, and covers almost the entire period of the last three Labour governments.


We haven’t amended the data in any way – all we’ve done to it is add a couple of shaded grey boxes to make it easier to judge the positions of the lines over time, and two thin vertical black lines immediately to the right of the vertical axis, again for ease of illustration. The line on the left shows the size of the gap when Labour came to power in 1997 (about 26%) and the one to its right shows the size of the gap in 2009, just before Labour lost the 2010 election (about 29.5%).

What that tells us is that under 13 years of UK Labour governments with thumping majorities, the size of the inequality gap between the richest and poorest grew by around 13% – or if you like, a steady 1% a year. (Luckily and famously, Labour were “intensely relaxed” about that.) So next time you’re thinking of voting Labour – or voting to remain in a Union where either they or the Tories will always form the government – because you want a more equal society, all we’re saying is, maybe bear it in mind.

4 to “We’re just going to leave this here”

  1. Jen says:

    Without a doubt, labour are just another brand of tory using values and beliefs in what labour used to be.  This is why people still vote and believe in Labour because their actions never match their talk.  Bad branding overall.

    Reply
  2. Bugger (the Panda) says:

    I see whatbthe gtraph says and think what it doesn't say as well.
     
    Is it that the top 10% have grown their wealth faster than the other groups or that some groups have not grow,
     
    It would be interesting to see not just relative comparisons but hard data corrected to some fixed point.
    My gut feel is the following that;
    the great trickle down myth underpins the concept of open borders free capitalism seems not to have happened ergo, the great cake has just benn reapportioned to suit the Billy Bunters.

    Reply
  3. An Duine Gruamach says:

    Wingers – thought I'd alert you to another potential sighting of the Loch Ness Positve Case for the Union, about halfway down this page: link to telegraph.co.uk
    I didn't quite see the case myself, but it may be in there somewhere.
     

    Reply
  4. Shodan says:

    The majority got steadily poorer and the elite at the top have got wealthier. This has happened under the watches of both Labour and Tory. Despite all their bluster they end up continuing the same processes. Over time even the facade is crumbling or being abandoned as now you can barely get a fag paper between the red Tories or the blue Tories.
     
    The same con was pulled in America as their statistics are equally grim. They've been voting in what they thought was the "left" and "right" wings only to slowly find out after decades that the left wing and right wing are on the same bird. When you take true inflation, cost of living and spending power into account wages have been falling for the majority instead of rising. They have to work longer hours to get less, they are more indebted, less secure and it all relies on credit and cheap Chinese imports. Any bubble bursts and the most vulnerable will suffer badly. I know far too many that are in outrageously priced rents and mortgages and feel like they are on a knife edge, despite their best efforts.
     
    A sorry mess watched over by and lead on by Tory and Labour leadership.

    Reply


Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,884 Posts, 1,236,841 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • sarah on Two Men Unalike: “As the Rev has been saying for many years, we need to get rid of the existing politicians. We need…Feb 28, 23:58
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Two Men Unalike: “JENNIFER BILEK | Who is Behind the TRANS AGENDA? (2023) Jennifer Bilek is an investigative journalist, a feminist and a…Feb 28, 23:42
    • Geri on The Tactics Of Suicide: “Oi Fandan That’ll be eight of yours too then trying desperately to look relevant with zero point but word salad…we…Feb 28, 20:56
    • Geri on The Tactics Of Suicide: “*scans Franchise fannies mutterings for any deep & meaningful insight, rebuttal or even a quality counter argument* FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!…Feb 28, 20:46
    • lorncal on Two Men Unalike: “Three strands at work here: 1. the big corporates (all male) which have invested billions in the ‘trans’ industry -…Feb 28, 20:30
    • Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “Pedophile Apologists. Friends of Groomers. Corrupt to the core. Makes the SNP look like a community project with missing raffle…Feb 28, 20:22
    • Aidan on The Tactics Of Suicide: “That’s 8 posts from you Alf, all of which say basically the same thing. You might get beyond rhetoric to…Feb 28, 20:16
    • Cynicus on Two Men Unalike: “Don’t expect Parliament to do anything about this in a hurry. It too is virtually captured. Almost 12 % of…Feb 28, 20:05
    • Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “They have cut off the head of the snake. The Iranian supreme leader is no longer.Feb 28, 19:55
    • Alf Baird on The Tactics Of Suicide: “For the “hard of thinking” colonialists BTL – an ye aw ken wha ye are, an so dae we -…Feb 28, 19:45
    • Sven on Two Men Unalike: “Lends a whole new meaning to the term, “Labour of love”, Mark B.Feb 28, 19:03
    • Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “God help those who help themselves. Korea next? Why not. Zap the bastards.Feb 28, 18:36
    • Young Lochinvar on Two Men Unalike: “Strike Hebes, should have read camel jockeys.Feb 28, 18:32
    • Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “Pride in the workplace. Does that include Rent Boys.Feb 28, 18:32
    • Young Lochinvar on Two Men Unalike: “Hi tech long range warfare unleashed yet again. God help the Americans if the Hebes and Mullahs get their hands…Feb 28, 18:28
    • Northcode on The Tactics Of Suicide: “Correct, Geri. I don’t think most folk will need as many as three guesses… one will probably be enough.Feb 28, 18:18
    • Aidan on The Tactics Of Suicide: “Of course no mildly educated person in reasonable control of their own faculties and with a balanced state of mind…Feb 28, 18:04
    • Nae Need! on Two Men Unalike: “In my head, that’s pretty much how I visualise the word: Nonce sense.Feb 28, 18:00
    • Nae Need! on Two Men Unalike: “Indeed. Anarcho-tyranny doing its thing.Feb 28, 17:57
    • Nae Need! on Two Men Unalike: “My thoughts too.Feb 28, 17:56
    • TURABDIN on Two Men Unalike: “The fantastic world according to Lewis Caroll is preferable to the sinister world according to D Trump. Where’s the rabbit…Feb 28, 17:52
    • Bilbo on The Tactics Of Suicide: “It couldn’t happen to a nicer person lol but I’m cynical that all these recent allegations of misconduct is a…Feb 28, 17:51
    • Bilbo on The Tactics Of Suicide: “Thanks Cynicus for your measured reply. I don’t get involved in anything to do with events in the ME especially…Feb 28, 17:40
    • Nae Idea on Two Men Unalike: “These trans people are dangerous lunatics. For the tiny number of them they are, they have caused a HELLUVA lot…Feb 28, 16:46
    • SilentMajority on Two Men Unalike: “I thoroughly agree. It was wonderful watching Peterson, who very politely, showed just how biased Newman is. Definitely recommended viewing!Feb 28, 16:30
    • Andy Ellis on The Tactics Of Suicide: “Geri is about as connected to the truth as Trump and Uncle Vlad and their respective acolytes. She couldn’t rip…Feb 28, 16:26
    • Sean Duffy on Two Men Unalike: “Further proof that it’s all noncense! [spelling intentional].Feb 28, 16:05
    • twathater on The Tactics Of Suicide: “Oh NO crivvens help me bob , I am distraught Kay with an E the STAR Kaye Adams reportedly axed…Feb 28, 15:54
    • sarah on Two Men Unalike: “Hear, hear.Feb 28, 15:47
    • twathater on The Tactics Of Suicide: “@ Geri that wee break you had away from the arseholes has did you good , you are on fire…Feb 28, 15:47
  • A tall tale



↑ Top