Dave’s Big Squeeze

The Conservatives were supposed to cut the deficit, not incomes. But hats off to Dave and his toffee-nosed rabble, he has slashed on average £1,350 from household income. In the West Midlands it’s £1,550/year, or just shy of 30 quid every week. An achievement only equalled by Dave’s presiding over 35 consecutive months of falling wages – a feat unmatched by any other Prime Minister. Take a look:

Please note the spike in April 2013, that brief moment when real wages outstripped prices was actually the coincidence of the 50p tax cut windfall for the very richest and the paying out of yet another bumper crop of bankers’ bonuses. Such were the vast sums of cash scooped up by the wealthy that it was, for a tiny interlude, able to push the real wage figures up for millions of working people. Unfortunately, none of that found its way into the pockets of those who need it most.

These stats are taken from Labour’s new report, David Cameron’s Out of Touch, You’re Out of Pocket. It’s very useful not just as a grab bag of information that can be thrown at Tories, but its sections on inflation decouple the oft-made link between it and wages. Since May last year, inflation has more or less stabilised between the two and three per cent mark – well above the official target that has 2% as its ceiling. Meanwhile wages have not kept up. So remember that next time a coiffured Treasury spokesperson pops up to say wage claims would have deleterious impacts on inflation targets.