British 1% and 99%, more inequality than ever

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Wealth inequality in the UK

8 October 2013

Inequality has been rising for 30 years. The gap between rich and poor is the widest since the second world war. If current trends continue, we will have reached Victorian levels of inequality in 20 years. Sign up to our weekly email briefings to get the full facts.

By Sofia Lotto Persio in Britain:

Britain: a NATION of have-nots

Tuesday 13th September 2016

Just 1% of richest people now own nearly a quarter of the country’s entire wealth

THE richest 1 per cent of Britain’s population owns almost more than 20 times the total wealth of the poorest fifth, according to a shocking new report by Oxfam.

The charity’s findings show that around 634,000 of the wealthiest people are worth 20 times as much as the poorest 13 million — making Britain one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.

It also revealed that over half of the country’s wealth is concentrated in the richest 10 per cent of the population, while the poorest 20 per cent shares barely 0.8 per cent of Britain’s wealth between them.

Oxfam UK programme head Rachael Orr said: “The UK is one of the richest countries in the world, but it’s a nation divided into the haves and have-nots. While executive pay soars, one in five people live below the poverty line and struggle to pay their bills and put food on the table.”

The charity has put forward a four-point plan to shake-up corporate culture and stamp out inequality, including giving employees greater representation on company boards and ending tax avoidance and closing British-linked tax havens.

It has also suggested that the most highly paid person at a firm earn no more than 20 times the salary of the lowest-paid worker to help narrow the wage gap.

“Addressing the practices of unscrupulous business needs to be a central part of the government’s plans to even up the economy,” said Ms Orr.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady welcomed the report recommendations.

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Corporations’ role in amassing vast amounts of wealth was highlighted in a Global Justice Now study released yesterday, showing that corporations make up 69 per cent of the world’s 100 richest entities. US transnational retailer Walmart is worth more than Spain, Australia and the Netherlands.

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In 2000, corporations already represented 51 per cent of the world’s top economic entities and this trend has increased relentlessly throughout the years.

Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said the British government has facilitated the rise in corporate power through tax structures, trade deals and even aid programmes that help big business.

“The vast wealth and power of corporations is at the heart of so many of the world’s problems,” he said.

“The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet. These figures show the problem is getting worse.”

The UK is one of the most unequal countries in the world, according to Oxfam: here.

Earlier this month, economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, leading experts on global inequality, released a groundbreaking study on the growth of income inequality in the United States between 1946 and 2016: here.

Britain: Income Inequality On Fat Cat Thursday bosses rake in as much money as the average worker makes all year. TUC research shows that bosses are paid 120 times the average worker’s wage: here.

Inequality: Britain’s richest plot to stash cash away from the reach of a Corbyn government. According to an investment management company, the super-rich are worried about a ‘hard-left government led by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’: here.

Three reports expose extreme inequalities in Britain: here.

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