As my hon. Friend the Member for Brent Central (Dawn Butler), Labour's shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, said, new clause 6 would require the Chancellor to carry out and publish a review of the Bill’s effect on equality. In short, it touches on the fundamental difference between the Labour party and this failing Government, whose policies work for only the richest few. New clause 6 seeks to shed light on the truth of who benefits from Government choices and who does not.
In order to change society, we must understand society; and in order to have a fully functioning democracy, we need transparency. People in my constituency deserve to know what is going on, not least because this Government are failing the country on so many levels that it is hard to know where to start.
New clause 6 refers to equality in relation to
“households at different levels of income”.
Real pay has fallen and is now lower than it was in 2010. Too many jobs that have been created are insecure and entrench poverty through low pay. These employment models fuel inequality, and certain parts of the country, particularly in my north-east region and my constituency, have a disproportionate number of workers on these
contracts, where there has been a long-term move towards casualisation. This poverty is not just about worklessness; 60% of people in poverty live in a UK household where someone is in work. Many professionals have joined the queues at food banks, where, nationally, 1.4 million emergency food parcels were handed out last year—that has to be a perfect symbol of a failed state, does it not—yet the Government just don’t get it.
3.45 pm
Britain has the fourth highest level of inequality in Europe and the immediate future does not look any brighter, thanks to Government policies. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has predicted that inequality is likely to increase. The shocking facts are that 3.7 million children are living in poverty in the UK, 1.7 million of them in severe poverty—and this in the sixth richest economy in the world! Conservative Members scoff at us for not applauding the increase in jobs and scowl at us for not subscribing to their mantra that work is the best way out of poverty, but this is because we live in the 21st century, where work for many is short-term, low-paid, precarious and far away, and therefore exacerbates the poverty that many in my community face. Of course worklessness is not the solution; secure, good quality, higher paid jobs are the solution.
The review proposed in new clause 6 is comprehensive and inclusive, addressing economic inequality from a number of often intersecting viewpoints, including from a regional perspective. The national figures are appalling, but in the north-east things are even worse. Let us be clear: in our region and in my constituency we have been left behind. While we have been crying out for investment born of an industrial strategy that gives us our fair share, we have in fact got a long-standing neglect that acts like a scar on the landscape. These policies have real and devastating effects: in North West Durham 21% of children live in poverty.
What does that actually mean? It means children coming to school with empty bellies; and parents, usually women, reducing their portions or skipping meals to make sure their children get enough—worse, the children know their parents are doing this. It is about the daily grind of people having bills through their door and that sinking feeling that they cannot pay them, and having the fear of the sanctions—further punishments for poverty—and all the while people are working extremely hard for that existence. The latest figures show that households in the north-east have £100 pounds less to spend a week than those in the south-east do.