Five charts to start your day
Will Britain thrive under the new labour government
Labour has won a landslide victory. A lot of comparisons have been made between the last election in 2019, when Labour took a pummelling versus today when they won a landslide victory. Take a look at the map below to see the difference.
Source: The Telegraph
In fairness, this is a completely different Labour Party. Back then, Labour was run by the leftist Jeremy Corbyn, who pitched the tired rich versus poor story. We know who the rich and the poor are, but what about the hardworking, tax-paying middle classes? Moreover, under his leadership, Britain slipped out of the EU with barely any opposition – an act that infuriated many Labour voters.
The Labour Party we have now seems far more business-friendly and centrist under its leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is evidently far more popular. The results are telling. People want economic prosperity and not ideological whiff-whaff. They have finally got it from Labour.
But make no mistake, the Labour government is inheriting a country in a tough economic bind. Although the economic climate might be set to improve slowly next year, the country is still experiencing a cost of living crisis.
Inflation may have fallen, but that just means that prices are now rising less quickly. The cost of living is still far too high for many Britons, and that’s largely down to wages – they are stagnant. In fact, they haven’t gone anywhere since the financial crisis 15 years ago.
Data from the ONS reveals that average real UK weekly earnings were £515 in March 2008. Fast-forward 16 years, and they have risen to just £523.
Had wages continued along the 2000-2007 trend, they would have reached £758. That is almost a 50 percent increase. Had they tracked the 2000-2009 era (which accounts for the global financial crisis), they would have grown to more than £600 per week – an almost 20 percent increase.
People in Britain just don’t earn enough and this is part of the reason behind the economic malaise. This needs to be fixed and the status quo will not do. We need to hear less about bashing the mythical banker (who I’ve never met despite working in this sector for decades) and more about creating a business-friendly Britain where wages can naturally rise through market focus.
Let’s hope this is what we get.
Source: Chartr
Coming up:
The divide between small and large caps widens
Debt-to-GDP: France vs. Germany
Economic Surprise Index reached near record lows in June
Indebtedness seems to have an impact on potential GDP growth
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