Mind the poverty gap

I wasn't suprised to hear yesterday's news that the gap between rich and poor is wider than 40 years ago, but perhaps most stark is the statistic that the top 10% are more than 100 times richer than the lowest 10% (top 10% have wealth over £853k and lowest 10% are below £9k).

For this to happen after 13 years of a Labour government is truly shocking, but simply adds more weight to the assertion that they have been pushing to the economic right-wing. No socialist government would have let this happen. Bizzarely, last night I listened to a Tory MP saying that his party would close the gap yesterday - I nearly chocked on my cocoa. How tax breaks for the rich, privatisation of public services and so on, could possibly close the pverty gap is beyond me. Sadly too, the LibDems are also continuing their right ward march.

Taxes for the rich need to go up. Support for the poorer and more vulnerable members of society must increase. It is really quite simple.

One of the key problems with a wide poverty gap is the impact on society. The Equality Trust have published some very straightforward information on just how devastating to society's health this type of gap is.I really do recommend people read what they have to say.