Mind the Gap

It’s official, Britain is a great place to be - the Sunday Times’ Rich List tell us so. There are 11 more billionaires in Britain than there were last year, with 88 billionaires in the UK with a combined wealth of £450 billion.

Topping the list of rich people is Russian Alisher Usmanov whose wealth is estimated at £13.3bn. Only one person in the top eight is British, the Duke of Westminster, who has an estimated wealth of £7.8bn. It is difficult to determine how much tax they pay, but according to figures released last year, from the 54 billionaires listed in 2006 the total amount of tax paid was £14.7m (for all 54).

Meanwhile, new unemployment figures released on 17th April 2013, show a continuing increase with 70,000 more people having lost their jobs between December 2012 – February 2013 according to the Office of National Statistics, bringing the total number of unemployed people to 2.56 million.

By way of comparison, during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the number of unemployed was 3.5 million in Britain. Of the 2.56 million- 979,000 are under 25 making-up 38% of the total unemployed. The BBC stated that unemployment means not only being out of work, but also people who actively seek work and can start within a fortnight. Not having a job is not enough to be classified as unemployed.

Working people are also feeling the pinch. Total earnings grew by 0.8% well below the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) of 2.8% and it is believed that CPI will increase to 3% and remain there for the rest of 2013.

Poverty, has increased. According to Oxfam 1 in 5 people in the UK live below the official poverty line meaning that 13 million people do not earn enough money to live on. Child poverty is an issue- with ‘poorer areas’ having disproportionately higher levels. In Central Manchester 47% children live below the poverty line. In London, Bethnal Green has 43% below the line compared to 6% in Wimbledon. The Trussell Trust runs food banks for people who are too poor to buy food; they currently feed an estimated 280,000 an increase from 129,000 in 2011.

There is no doubt that increasing levels on inequality will have a corrosive effect on Britain’s social fabric. However, there are signs of rebellion as many ordinary people seek to fight back. Communities in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Salford are staging campaigns and demonstrations- against cuts and rising social-economic inequality. Last Saturday, over 1000 people took to the streets in Leeds and other protests took place in Manchester and other cities. Momentum is growing. Different groups from the anti-bedroom tax campaign to tenant groups and more formed the Benefit’s Justice Group.

The Benefit Justice is a campaign that brings together different organisations, individuals and campaigners to fight benefit cuts. They oppose all cuts to benefits and tax credits which hit the poorer half of the UK particularly hard. They reject the demonization of a whole group of people (Workers and Shirkers) and attempted divisions caused by it. They aim to unite all activists and groups across the country to create a single campaign.

They are holding their second summit on 11th May at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster from 11am. The summit will discuss ways the campaign can go forward; the summit will be attended by trade unions, campaigners, activist, groups and MP’s. If the movement continues to grow it will have effects on how government talks about and deals with the issue. It could led to a softening or reversing of the cuts as the one thing a government fears is an aroused, angry and protesting people.

Usman Butt