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Analysis: UK rich-poor gap growing

A new analysis suggest that the gap between the rich and poor is growing in UK.

A new analysis has revealed that UK’S richest 20 percent have more than one hundred times the wealth of the poorest 20 percent with the combined household wealth of £9.1 trillion remaining for the most part in the hands of the elite.

The report is based on a new analysis from Lloyds Bank Private Banking. g that if the combined household wealth was evenly distributed, each family in Britain would have an annual income of £326,414.

But in spite of a rise in household wealth of more than £216,000 in the past 10 years, the increased prosperity appears to remain in the hands of “a growing number of older households,” according to Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer of Lloyds Bank Private Banking.

“Currently the problem is that people are now beginning to realize that there’s not only a big disparity in income which is what we get every year, but there are huge differences in wealth distribution. So people with wealth in the UK, the top 20 percent, have a very significant share of the wealth and then the bottom 20 percent has a very small share of the wealth,” London-based Professor of International Economics and Finance at City University Keith Pilbeam told  Press TV.

He noted that the problem is very intractable in a way, because the property prices determine a lot of the wealth and wealthy people buy expensive properties and get wealthier.

Pilbeam touch upon the role of the government in addressing the issue saying: “ We know the Conservative government and it is not likely to do very much at all. If anything, the policy they enact will exacerbate the existing wealth gap.”

He emphasized that austerity policy can actually worsen the problem adding :”When you make cuts in social security, like the Conservatives are planning £12 billion in cuts, inevitably it hits the bottom 20 percent… so I can only see the problem getting worse.”

The professor said that giving people more income won’t address the problem adding:”It is the wealth gaps at just the moment now, and even if you saved all your money all your life, you may not even get to the some of the wealth of the people in the top 20 percent.”

MTM/MH


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