The governments elimination of the starting 10% tax level has made over five million people in the UK poorer. Many of them pensioners who spent a lifetime toiling in public services towards occupational pension schemes that accrued at the rate of 1/80 per annum.

Contrast this with the super rich and non doms paying little or no tax. The OECD has stated that the UK is now a tax haven for such people.

The gap between the richest and poorest has never been bigger in our history. With increasing competition for global resources prices are accelerating. The poorest comparative poverty will worsen with growing fuel poverty, etc.

How has a Labour government created such an obscene pickle?