Britain's 200-Year Long 'High Inequality, High Poverty Cycle' & How to Break it

Stewart Lansley and Kate Pickett will explore Britain's 200-year long 'high inequality-poverty' cycle, one broken just once in the post-war years of greater equality. Why does Britain have the second highest level of inequality in the rich world, and what needs to be done to break this socially and economically destructive cycle? The event will be chaired by Frances Foley, Deputy Director of Compass.

For most of the last 200 years, Britain has been a high inequality and high poverty country. It has only broken this long cycle once - in the post-war years when egalitarian thinkers finally won the battle of ideology. When they lost that battle in the late 1970s to a group of New Right thinkers, the gap between rich and poor widened, while child poverty levels are now double those of the 1970s. Today, Britain has the second highest level of inequality amongst rich nations.

This event will explore Britain's inequality record. Why have our political leaders been happy to allow ever higher fortunes at the top, while presiding over an explosion of food banks? To what extent has today’s return to past levels of poverty been driven by the business practices of a small but overpowered financial and corporate elite? What needs to be done to break this socially and economically destructive cycle?

This event will be chaired by Frances Foley, Deputy Director of Compass.