John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting in the Resolution
Foundation report out today, which shows that Britain is on course for the
biggest increase in inequality since Thatcher, said:

 “This
report is damning of the unfair economic policies of this Chancellor, as the
gap between working families and a wealthy few gets wider, with the poor
getting poorer and the rich getting richer. It demonstrates to us all once
again that the economy under a Tory government will be rigged for those at the
top, with poor and middle income households
facing their worst Parliament for income growth since the 1960s.

“Labour
called on the Government at the Autumn Statement to end the unfair cuts to in
work benefits, whilst they were going ahead with tax giveaways to a wealthy
minority, but Philip Hammond chose to carry on with the work of his
predecessor.

“It is becoming clearer by the day that
working families will be forced to pay for a Tory Brexit that favours the rich
and not the rest of us, as our country faces its biggest rise in inequality
since Margaret Thatcher.

“The
next Labour government would rewrite the rules of our economy in favour of
working families, with a real living wage expected to be £10 an hour by 2020,
and proper investment to ensure no one and no community is left behind.”