Representing the rich
THE RECENT Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on
inequality in Britain reviewed in Socialism Today No.112 contains
information which, while disgraceful, should come as no surprise to
socialists. An interesting contrast is made between the parliamentary
constituencies represented by ministers of the 1997 New Labour cabinet
as against the equally safe Tory constituencies of their Conservative
shadows.
In 2000 the constituents of Labour ministers were a
little over twice as likely to be ‘poor’ as the constituents of Tory
shadow ministers. Twenty years earlier in 1980, however, at the start of
Thatcher’s Tory government, there was only a 74 per cent greater chance
that they would be living in poverty.
In 2000 in Boris Johnson’s safe Tory constituency of
Henley, the Rowntree researchers found 30 per cent of households to be
‘exclusively wealthy’. Fifty-three per cent had sufficient wealth for
them to be liable for inheritance tax. Seven per cent were ‘poor’. In
Harriet Harman’s Peckham constituency in South London, in contrast, no
one was ‘exclusively wealthy’. Eight per cent were liable for
inheritance tax, while 57 per cent were ‘poor’.
In the Rowntree report ‘poor’ means people who can’t
afford a week’s annual holiday, or save £10 a week, or keep their home
warm. ‘Exclusively wealthy’ means those who don’t need to depend on
state provision – they can afford private schools, hospitals, security
guards, and what have you.
Danny Dorling, who participated in assembling the
Rowntree report, and using statistics from Barclays bank, has stated:
"Nothing has changed since 2000… Whatever measure you pick – life
expectancy, the chances of children getting into university, or
household wealth – the world looks a better place in safe Tory seats".
Wealth still flows into the accounts of those in
safe Tory areas. But in the areas represented by Labour ministers there
has been virtually no increases in the amount of money in constituents’
accounts for ten years!
The vast majority of those living in safe Tory seats
have seen their assets – housing, shares, savings, etc – grow under the
New Labour government: "Many have become seriously rich". New Labour’s
rule has been good for most Tory voters!
All the figures clearly demonstrate that having a
Labour MP as your representative, even if he or she is a minister of the
governing Labour Party, has definitely not helped Labour voters.
Roy Farrar
Liverpool
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