THE TORY THREAT

TO LIVING
STANDARDS
Insecurity
for Pensioners and
Working People


Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3
2. The Tory threat to pensioners............................................................................... 4
Scrapping the triple lock .................................................................................................. 5
Cutting Winter Fuel Payments ........................................................................................ 7
Raising the State Pension age ......................................................................................... 9
Social care ....................................................................................................................... 11
And the Tories broken promises for the elderly don’t stop there… ........................ 13
3. The Tory threat to working people ..................................................................... 14
The Tory plan to tax working people ........................................................................... 15
The Tory threat to wages............................................................................................... 17
Working people facing a squeeze on disposable income ......................................... 19

2

 1. Introduction

When Theresa May launched her manifesto for the 2017 General Election she returned to her
claims that her priority was to deliver prosperity to Britain. Nothing could be further from the
truth.

Behind the rhetoric, this is a manifesto that offers the majority of working people and
pensioners insecurity. It places a huge question mark over their future living standards.

Pensioners have been betrayed by this manifesto, with the Tories choosing to target them
with a triple whammy. Older people stand to lose the pension guarantee in the next
parliament, the Winter Fuel Allowance is being hacked away at and the Tory social care plans
could see those who need support forced to pay for it with their homes.

For working people, it’s a similar story of insecurity. The tax guarantee the Tories made in
2015 is gone. With it goes the Tory promise not to raise income tax and National Insurance
contributions, raising the spectre of tax rises on lower and middle incomes. It’s no wonder the
Tories have also dropped from their manifesto their previous promise to raise living
standards – that is now a distant prospect for millions of working people.

In this document we reveal the scope of the Tory attack on living standards. It reveals that:

The Tories are a threat to pensioners:

• Pensioners would have been left at least £330 worse off had the Tories’ new
‘Double Lock’ been in place in recent years.

• Ten million people – five out of six pensioners – are set to lose their Winter Fuel
Payments, worth up to £300.

• 34 million people face the prospect of working longer if Theresa May raises the
State Pension age.

The Tories are a threat to working people:

• Since 2010, the average household is paying more in both direct and indirect
taxation: a total of nearly £2,000. And now they face the threat of further tax
rises.

• Under the Tories the UK is set to experience the worst decade for real household
disposable income since 1949.

Behind Theresa’s May rhetoric, their manifesto offered nothing but a very real and present
danger to pensioners and working people.

The Tories stand up only for the few. For the many they offer the threat of harder times
to come.
3

 2. The Tory threat to pensioners

The 2015 Conservative Party Manifesto promised to protect pensioner benefitsi and ensure
that people grow old in comfort and dignity. They broke their promise.

The Tories have failed pensioners:

ii
• Spending on pensioner benefits is falling in real terms next year.

• The estimated number of pensioners living in poverty, after housing costs, in 2015/16
iii
was 1.9 million. This is an increase of 300,000 compared with 2010/11.

• 400,000 fewer older people are receiving state-funded social care, and the number of
days patients are stuck in hospital because there is nowhere safe to discharge them
has reached a record high in recent months.

Far from addressing the problems they have caused, the Tories now offer only more
insecurity for older people.

Their 2017 manifesto contains a triple whammy for pensioners:

• scrapping the Triple Lock

• cutting Winter Fuel Payments

• raising the State Pension age

Theresa May is asking millions of people to work longer only to receive far less generous
support in retirement and worse public services.

The Tories are a threat to pensioners’ living standards.

4

Scrapping the triple lock

The Tory manifesto has dropped the ‘Triple Lock’ and plans to replace it with a
weaker ‘Double Lock’. Analysis shows that pensioners would have been left at
least £330 worse off under the Tories’ new Double Lock between 2013/14 and
2017/18.

________________________________

• The state pension Triple Lock was introduced in 2010. It guaranteed that the
state pension would increase with the higher of 2.5 per cent, price inflation, and
average earnings. This was introduced to ensure that pension incomes rise
reliably year on year, protecting the living standards of pensioners.

• Theresa May used to say the Triple Lock gives pensioners “real security and a
decent income”.

“Our triple guarantee will help to improve the value of the state pension, giving real
security and a decent income for all women pensioners.”
Theresa May, Hansard, 8 June 2011, https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2011-06-
08/debates/11060855000002/Women(GovernmentPolicies)

• In 2015 the Tories promised to protect the Triple Lock.

“We will keep the triple lock pension system.”

Conservative Party Manifesto, 2015

• Now the Tories have gone back on their word. Yesterday’s Tory manifesto
confirmed the scrapping of the Triple Lock after 2020, replacing it with a much
weaker Double Lock. This would drop the 2.5 per cent criteria, which has been
the highest of the three, two out of the first five years in which the lock was in
place.

The Tory ‘Double Lock’ is a threat to pensioner incomes

• If the Double Lock had been in place over recent years pensioners would be
much worse off.

• Pensioners would be at least £330 worse off under the Tories’ new Double Lock
had it been in place between 2013/14 and 2017/18, compared with the basic
state pension being uprated by the Triple Lock.

• In one year, the basic state pension would have been uprated by a measly
£1.36 because of the Tories’ abysmal record on wage growth.

5

 Labour analysis using figures published by the House of Commons Library, ‘State Pension
Uprating’, 7 February 2017.
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN05649

• If the Tories continued their failure on pay, and inflation was also below 2.5 per
cent, pensioners would see substantial falls in their incomes, compared with
pensions being uprated by the Triple Lock.

• In recent years inflation has been below 2.5 per cent and the Bank of England’s
target rate of inflation is 2 per cent.

The next Labour government will not risk the security and living standards of
pensioners. We will protect pensioners’ incomes by legislating to keep the Triple
Lock over the lifetime of the next parliament.

6

Cutting Winter Fuel Payments

The Tory manifesto included a commitment to means-test Winter Fuel

Payments with support only for those ‘most at risk of fuel poverty’, stripping ten
million people – five out of six pensioners - of their Winter Fuel Payments, worth
up to £300.

________________________________

• Labour’s Winter Fuel Payments helped lift 900,000 pensioners out of poverty
between 1997 and 2010. However, since the Tories came into government,
relative pensioner poverty is up; it has increased by 300,000 since 2010iv.

• Theresa May herself has previously underlined the importance of protecting

the winter fuel allowance.

“We need to continue to support all women who need it, which is why we have ensured
that we have protected child benefit and tax credits for women on low incomes, and why
we will increase the value of the state pension, and protect benefits such as the winter fuel
allowance and free bus passes for older women.”
Theresa May, Hansard, 8 June 2011, https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2011-06-
08/debates/11060855000002/Women(GovernmentPolicies)

• However, the Tory manifesto includes a commitment to means-test Winter Fuel

Payments with support only for those ‘most at risk of fuel poverty’.

“So we will means-test Winter Fuel Payments, focusing assistance on the least well-off
pensioners, who are most at risk of fuel poverty.”
Conservative Party Manifesto, 2017

• According to the Resolution Foundation, this will strip ten million pensioners of
their Winter Fuel Payments, worth up to £300.

“Theresa May is proposing to go much further. The plans looks set to restrict the payments
to the very poorest 2 million pensioners entitled to pensions credit, saving £1.7 billion by
taking the benefit away from 10 million pensioners.”
Resolution Foundation, “Death taxes, the Conservative manifesto, and the changing politics of
intergenerational fairness”, 18 May 2017
http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/blog/death-taxes-the-conservative-manifesto-and-
the-changing-politics-of-intergenerational-fairness/

• If, as the Resolution Foundation suggests, the Tory changes will restrict Winter
Fuel Payments to the poorest two million pensioners, then:

o Five out of six pensioners (84 per cent) will no longer be eligible for
Winter Fuel Payments.

7

 o It will be a substantial cut for low and middle income retired households
(The median income of retired households is £21,800)v.

• This ‘means test’ for the Winter Fuel Allowance, also likely means that many still
entitled will not claim it. Evidence shows that means testing can discourage people
from accessing benefits.

“Complicated and intrusive means-tests discourage many from accessing their full benefit
entitlement. The figures for child tax credit (CTC) and child benefit (CB) are instructive: CB
which is not currently means-tested is accessed by 96 per cent of eligible households
compared to 80 per cent take-up for the more highly targeted CTC. As a result, CB actually
reaches more families living in poverty than CTC.”
Child Poverty Action Group, http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/move-away-means-test

Labour will protect pensioners’ incomes by keeping Winter Fuel Payments and
free bus passes.

8

Raising the State Pension age

Theresa May let slip that the Tories could adopt recommendations to bring
forward increases to the State Pension age for millions of workers. New analysis
from the House of Commons Library shows that 34 million people face the
prospect of working longer if Theresa May raises the State Pension age.

________________________________

• The Tory manifesto failed to make a firm commitment on the State Pension age
beyond suggesting it should relate to life expectancy.

“We will also ensure that the state pension age reflects increases in life expectancy,
while protecting each generation fairly.”
Conservative Party Manifesto, 2017

• Theresa May has indicated that she supports raising the State Pension age.

“Today, people live for a significant length of time beyond their retirement. The
Government therefore need to raise the state pension age, as has been recognised by
previous Governments—the initial decisions to accelerate the rise and raise the state
pension age were taken by previous Governments. We have had to take these difficult
decisions.”
Theresa May, Hansard, 8 June 2011, https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2011-06-
08/debates/11060855000002/Women(GovernmentPolicies)

• This suggests the Tories could adopt the recommendations of the Cridland
Review, to increase the State Pension age to 68 by 2039, bringing forward
increases to the State Pension age for millions of workers.

“We recommend: State Pension age should rise to age 68 over a two year period
starting in 2037 and ending in 2039”
Independent Review of the State Pension Age, March 2017
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-age-independent-review-final-
report

• New analysis from the House of Commons Library shows that 34 million people
will work longer under Theresa May’s plan to raise the State Pension age.

“34,621,254 million adults (between the age of 18 and 57) would be affected by state
pension age increases under a Conservative government, according to ONS mid-year
population estimates 2015, provided by the House of Commons Library.”
ONS, ‘Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-
2015’, 23 June 2016
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populatio
nestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/latest

9

Labour rejects the Conservatives’ proposal to increase the State Pension age
even further. The next Labour government will commission a new review of the
pension age, specifically tasked with developing a flexible retirement policy to
reflect both the contributions made by people, the wide variations in life
expectancy, and the arduous conditions of some work.

10

Social care

Theresa May has abandoned the Tories’ promise to introduce a cap on charges
for residential social care by April 2016. Now the Tories’ plans will see more
people having to pay for the care that they need in their own home. People
receiving care at home will now be expected to use the value of their property
to contribute to the costs.
________________________________

• In their 2015 Manifesto, the Tories promised to introduce a cap on charges for
residential social care by April 2016.

“We will cap charges for residential social care from April 2016 and also allow deferred
payment agreements, so no one has to sell their home.”
Conservative Party Manifesto 2015, Page 65

• Yet only weeks after the 2015 general election, they broke their promise and
announced that the cap on charges for residential social care would be delayed
until 2020.

“In 2010 the previous Government asked Sir Andrew Dilnot to lead the Commission on
Funding of Care and Support to make recommendations on how to achieve an
affordable and sustainable funding system for care and support for all adults in
England. The Commission recommended the creation of a cap system to protect people
from the risk of very high care costs. This recommendation was accepted and plans put
in place to implement from April 2016.

“This Government still accepts that recommendation and remains firmly committed to
delivering this historic change. However, the proposals to cap care costs and create a
supporting private insurance market were expected to add £6 billion to public sector
spending over the next 5 years. A time of consolidation is not the right moment to be
implementing expensive new commitments such as this, especially when there are no
indications the private insurance market will develop as expected. Therefore in light of
genuine concerns raised by stakeholders, we have taken the difficult decision to
delay the introduction of the cap on care costs system until April 2020.”
Written Statement: Care Costs, Lord Prior of Brampton, 17 July 2015
www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-
statement/Lords/2015-07-17/HLWS135/

• Now, Theresa May has completely abandoned the cap. Instead the
Conservatives plan to put homes into the means-test for domiciliary care and
protect assets of £100,000, which will leave thousands of the most vulnerable at
risk of losing their homes.

“First, we will align the future basis for means-testing for domiciliary care with that for
residential care”
“Second, to ensure this is fair, we will introduce a single capital floor, set at £100,000,”
Conservative Party Manifesto 2017, page 65

11

 • Under the Tories’ plans, more people will have to pay for the care that they
need in their own home. The plans say that people receiving care at home will
now be expected to use the value of their property to contribute to the costs.

• The King’s Fund have called the plans “deeply disappointing”, saying it will leave
more of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens without access to the services
they need.

“Having raised expectations of major changes to social care funding, the Conservative
Party’s manifesto is deeply disappointing. Instead of fundamental reform, these
proposals involve tinkering with a broken system and do not provide the sustainable
solution that is desperately needed.
However, including the value of people’s properties in the means test for social care
provided in their homes is likely to mean more people end up paying for these services.
Abandoning the cap on care costs – a manifesto commitment just two years ago – will
fail to help most of those unfortunate enough to face catastrophic costs. […]
‘Failure to tackle the growing gap in local authority-funded care, which will reach £2.1
billion by 2019/20, will leave more of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens
without access to the services they need. It will also further undermine a social care
system that, in the words of the Care Quality Commission, is already at a tipping point.”
The King’s Fund, Response to Conservative Party Manifesto
www.kingsfund.org.uk/press/press-releases/kings-fund-responds-conservative-party-
manifesto

• The Nuffield Trust says that the Tories’ proposals on social care “do nothing” to
solve the problem of underfunding in the system.

“Our social care system is underfunded and people face a lottery where a minority are
hit with disproportionately high costs. Unfortunately, the proposals in this manifesto
will do nothing to solve these problems. This is not a long term solution, and the next
Government will have to continue to look for one.”
Nuffield Trust, 18 May, 2017, www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/our-response-to-the-
conservative-manifesto

Labour will increase the social care budgets by a further £8 billion over the
lifetime of the next Parliament, including an additional £1 billion for the first
year. In our first term, we will lay the foundations of a National Care Service for
England.

12

And the Tories broken promises for the elderly don’t stop there

• The 2015 Conservative Party Manifesto included a guarantee of same day GP

appointments for the over 75s.

“We will….ensure you can see a GP and receive the hospital care you need, 7 days a
week by 2020, with a guarantee that everyone over 75 will get a same-day appointment
if they need one”
Conservative Party Manifesto 2015, Page 37

• This promise has been dropped from their 2017 manifesto.

13

 3. The Tory threat to working people

In the 2015 Conservative Party Manifesto, the Tories made a pledge to raise living
standards.vi They have failed.

• After seven years of a Tory government living standards remain stagnant and
too many of the jobs that are being created are in low-paid, insecure work.

• Real wages are lower now than they were in 2010 and working families are set
to be an average of £1,400 a year worse off by 2020 as a result of tax and social
security changes.

Experts have slammed the fall in living standards under the Tories. The IFS described
the situation as “dreadful”vii.

“One cannot stress enough how dreadful that is- more than a decade without real earnings
growth. We have certainly not seen a period remotely like it in the last 70 years.”
IFS, 24 November 2016 www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/budget/514

While the Resolution Foundation have called the living standards squeeze “severe”.

“Tackling rising inflation or stubbornly low productivity growth is not straightforward but, in the
face of a severe living standards squeeze, the Chancellor should recognise that now is not the
time to be adding to the pressure on low and middle income working families with substantial
benefit cuts.” Resolution Foundation, ‘Are we nearly there yet?’
March 2017, www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2017/03/Spring-Budget-2017-response.pdf

But rather than face the problems they created, Theresa May decided to drop their
2015 manifesto promise to raise living standards.

Remarkably there is not a single reference to living standards in the entire Tory
manifesto.

The Tories present a clear and unambiguous threat to the living standards of working
people.

14

The Tory plan to tax working people

The Tory manifesto promises yet another tax cut for big business with
Corporation Tax falling to 17 per cent by 2020. But for working people there’s no
such commitment. The Tories have not renewed their promise not to increase
income tax or national insurance. This raises the spectre of tax rises on those on
lower and middle incomes – people who are paying nearly £2,000 more in tax
since 2010.
________________________________

• Under the Tories working families are paying more in tax and there are further
tax rises in the pipeline.

• Since 2010, the average household is paying more in both direct and indirect
taxation: a total of nearly £2,000.viii Nearly three quarters of this alone is
because the Tories broke their promise to not increase VAT.

• The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that under current proposals
there are net tax rises of £14.4 billion – or 0.6 per cent of national income – in
the pipeline between now and 2021-22.ix This is a net figure- and takes account
of any tax cuts. These £14.4 billion of tax rises is equivalent to £760 per family.

• As a result, under the Tories, the tax burden is set to reach the highest level
since 1986-87x.

• However, this is without any additional tax rises that the Tories would bring in
over the next five years. A threat that has become increasingly likely in light of
the Tories dropping their pledge not to increase income tax or national
insurance.

The Tory threat to income tax and National Insurance Contributions

• Their 2015 manifesto promised not to raise VAT, National Insurance

Contributions or Income Tax.

“Commit to no increase in VAT, National Insurance Contributions or Income Tax.”

Conservative Party Manifesto, 2015

• However, this time around the Tory manifesto promises a tax cut for big
business, with Corporation Tax falling to 17 per cent by 2020.

“Corporation Tax is due to fall to seventeen per cent by 2020”

Conservative Party Manifesto 2017, page 14

15

 • But for working people there’s no such commitment. The previous pledge not
to increase VAT, NICs or Income Tax, which people voted for only two years ago,
has been replaced with a commitment to not “increase the level of Value Added
Tax”; there is no reference to Income Tax or employee National Insurance
Contributions.

• This raises the spectre of Tory tax rises for those on lower and middle incomes.

• In 2015 the Tories said that “tax rises on working people would harm our
economy, reduce living standards and cost jobs”. In their own words, the
absence of a commitment not to raise taxes on lower and middle income
earners, poses a real threat to working people’s living standards and sends a
warning shot to working people across the country.

“Tax rises on working people would harm our economy, reduce living standards and cost
jobs.”
Conservative Party Manifesto, 2015

Labour is committed to no tax rises on low and middle income earners. We will
not put up VAT or National Insurance Contributions and we will commit to no
Income Tax rises for 95 per cent of tax payers.

16

The Tory threat to wages

Tory failure on wages means that real wages today are still lower than they
were when the Tories came to power in 2010. And this week official figures have
shown that the situation is deteriorating further. Real earnings fell by 0.4 per
cent in February and by 0.5 per cent in March; the first time workers
experienced two consecutive falls in real earnings since 2014.
________________________________

• After seven years of Tory failure, working people are currently suffering the
worst decade for pay in over 200 yearsxi. Tory failure on wages means that real
wages today are still lower than they were when the Tories came to power in
2010xii.

• The IFS are forecasting that real wages will remain below their 2010 levels even
by 2021. This was a situation described by the IFS as ‘dreadful’.

“One cannot stress enough how dreadful that is- more than a decade without real
earnings growth.”
IFS, Autumn Statement 2016: IFS briefing, 24 November
www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/budgets/as2016/as2016_pj.pdf

• And this week, we saw official figures show that this situation is deteriorating
further.

• The below graph shows the dramatic decrease in real wages under the Tories.
Real pay has been negative for the last two consecutive months; leaving
working people worse off.

Real Earnings, Regular Pay (ONS)

2

1.5

0.5

0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
-0.5

-1

ONS, Average weekly earnings, real terms, 17 May 2017

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkingho
urs/timeseries/a2f9/emp

17

 • Real earnings fell by 0.4 per cent in February and by 0.5 per cent in March. The
last time workers experienced two consecutive falls in real earnings was in July
and August 2014xiii.

• The OECD reports how extraordinary UK failure on wages is. The UK is the only
major advanced economy in which wages have fallen, at the same time as the
economy has expanded. In most other countries, including France and
Germany, both the economy and wages have grown.

“Britain’s GDP went back to pre-crisis levels in the third quarter of 2013, yet wages remain
below where they were seven years ago. Meanwhile, in France and Germany wages have
grown by 7 per cent.”
Financial Times, 2 March 2017

• The threat of falling real wages poses a real threat to the living standards of
working people.

Labour will introduce a Real Living Wage of £10 an hour by 2020.

18

Working people facing a squeeze on disposable income

Under the Tories the UK is set to experience the worst decade in real household
disposable income since 1949, and their latest manifesto signals a further
squeeze. They have watered-down their commitment to increase the National
Living Wage, they haven’t ruled out an increase in energy bills next year and
have removed the freeze on commuter rail fares.
________________________________

• Tory failure on wages and Tory tax rises are feeding through to the worst
squeeze on households since modern records began. Under the Tories the UK
is set to experience the worst decade in real household disposable income
(RHDI) since 1949.

• Real household disposable income is made up of household income, non-

labour income, such as pensions, prices, and the effect of net tax and benefits.
The Tories record of failure is costing the average household over £1,000 this
year alone.

• The average growth rate in RHDI between 2010-2020 is forecast to be 1 per

cent. This is based on outrun data for 2010-2016 and forecast data from the
Office of Budget Responsibly (OBR) for 2017-2020.

Year Average RHDI (%)

1950-1960 3.1
1960-1970 2.9
1970-1980 3.0
1980-1990 3.0
1990-2000 3.2
2000-2010 2.3
2010-2020 1.0

Outturn data: 1949-2016

(ONS, Real Household Disposable Income, year-on-year growth, percentage change, seasonally
adjusted, 31 March 2017
www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/khi9/ukea

Forecast data: 2017-2020

(OBR, Real Household Disposable Income, year-on-year growth, percentage change, Chart 3.19,
Supplementary economy tables, 8 March 2017
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2017/)

19

 • The OBR says that real household disposable incomes are “expected to
stagnate in 2017” with forecasts for real household disposable income growth
of 0 per cent this year.xiv

• This has a material impact on household finances. The average household is

over £1,000 worse off this year alone- as a result of the Tories abysmal record
on living standards-relative to what households could have expected under
Labour.

• Real Household Disposable Income in 2016 was £1,241,200 million, or £45,781

per household. If RHDI grew at the average rate for 2000-2010 of 2.3 per cent,
rather than 0 per cent the average household would be £1,018 better off in
2017.

• On top of this, this week it was announced that inflation hit its highest level in
four years.

Inflation
3

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr

ONS, Consumer Prices Index, 16 May 2017

www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/d7g7/mm23

• Prices in the shops are now 2.7 per cent higher than they were a year ago. This
was higher than most analysts expected, leaving working families out of pocket
and further increasing the cost of living.

• And this is set to get even worse following the announcements made in the
Tory manifesto yesterday, which saw a watering-down of their commitment to
increase the National Living Wage, no guarantee not to increase energy bills
and a removal of the freeze to commuter rail fares.

• They have watered-down their commitment to increase the National Living

Wage, so that it will now only increase to 60 per cent of median earnings by

20

 2020. After that they are switching to median earnings. Labour is committed to
a Real Living Wage of £10 an hour by 2020.

“A new Conservative government will continue to increase the National Living Wage to 60
per cent of median earnings by 2020”
Conservative Party Manifesto 2017, page 16

• The Tories’ cap on energy prices won’t guarantee that bills won’t increase next
year. Further previous announcements suggested that a Tory energy price cap
would apply to 70 per cent of households. The manifesto only promises to
extend a cap to ‘more customers on the poorest value tariffs’.

“We will introduce a safeguard tariff cap that will extend the price protection currently in
place for some vulnerable customers to more customers on the poorest value tariffs.”
Conservative Party Manifesto 2017, page 60

• In the last Tory manifesto they promised to ‘keep commuter rail fares frozen in
real terms for the whole of the next parliament’. However, this time around
they made no such promises. This means that commuters are likely to be hit
with rail fares rising above inflation under the Tories.

• This all means that the squeeze on disposable incomes will only get worse
under the Tories. Theresa May is a threat to the already dreadful living
standards crisis that working people are facing.

Labour will introduce a Real Living Wage of £10 an hour and protect pensioners’
incomes.

21

Notes

i
“Protect pensioner benefits”, Conservative Party Manifesto 2015 (Page 53)
ii
The Department will be spending slightly less on pensioner benefits in 2018/19 than in 2017/18 (2016/17 prices: £118,365M in
2017/18 compared with £117,632M in 2018/19 – 0.6% less).” , Richard Harrington, 26 January 2017, Answer to Written Parliamentary
Question, http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2017-01-
23/61134/
iii
DWP, 16 March 2017, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201516
‘Estimated number of children in relative/absolute low income of Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2015/16’, 16 March
2017
iv
DWP, Table 6b: Estimated number of pensioners in relative/absolute low income of Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to
2015/16’, 16 March 2017 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to- 201516
v
ONS, ‘Household disposable income and inequality in the UK: financial year ending 2016’, 10 January 2017
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposa
bleincomeandinequality/financialyearending2016
vi
“It is only by securing the recovery, dealing with our debts and creating jobs that we can continue to raise living standards”,
Conservative Party Manifesto 2015 (page 7)
vii
“One cannot stress enough how dreadful that is- more than a decade without real earnings growth. We have certainly not seen
a period remotely like it in the last 70 years.” IFS, 24 November 2016 https://www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/budget/514
viii
ONS, The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, 25 April 2017,
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/datasets/theeffectsoftaxesa
ndbenefitsonhouseholdincomefinancialyearending2014
ix
IFS, Green Budget, February 2017, https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8825
x
IFS, Briefing Note: Tax revenues, May 2017,
xi
Resolution Foundation, 17 May 2017, http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/press-releases/pay-squeeze-returns-amidst-renewed-
jobs-boom/
xii
IFS, Autumn Statement 2016 analysis, 24 November 2016
https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/budgets/as2016/as2016_pj.pdf
xiii
ONS, Real terms earnings, regular pay, single month growth, 17 May 2017,
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/a2f9/emp
xiv
Forecast data: 2017-2020 Source: OBR, Table 3.8, 8 March 2017
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2017/

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9684_17 Printed and promoted by Iain McNicol, General Secretary, the Labour Party, on behalf of the Labour Party, both at Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT.A