Inequality Needs Solutions

Three recent reports  have brought home the reality for many people across Cheshire of what “inequality” means, day-to-day, hour-by-hour. We have heard about:

• 1 in 9 children living in poverty
• the extent of dependency on food banks
• the numbers of children in need now eligible for free school meals.

There has been a tendency for politicians and the media to think that “levelling-up” is all about a north/south divide; nonsense. There a many very poor people living in the south, and there is a great deal of wealth in the north. The Tatton Constituency is probably one of the most unequal in the country. Politicians of all Parties have a responsibility to move beyond sound-bites, and put forward genuine, practical and radical proposals. 

So, what would such a progressive strategy across Cheshire include? We would need: 

• a public conversation about the scourge of poverty in what is generally regarded as a well-off area
• a campaign to massively improve the funding of local public services, including social care, health, and transport
• and a demand that our politicians make decisions that reduce, not increase, inequality

We need a fundamental change of attitude: this level of inequality is not acceptable or inevitable in one of the most affluent countries in the world.