Inequality And Income Under Thatcher And Blair

There is an interesting new study out that compared the growth of income and the rate of inequality in the UK over the last 50 years. That 50 year period was dominated by Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair and the comparisons are fascinating. For the bottom 20% of earners, essentially the poor, here is what the graph looks like:

The left axis represents inequality and the bottom axis shows income growth. For the poor, Thatcher provided virtually no income growth but the level of inequality skyrocketed. Blair, on the other hand, minimized the growth in inequality but raised income for this group by about 40%.

Here is the same graph for the top 5%, essentially the rich:

Under Thatcher, inequality skyrocketed and the rich’s income grew by about 60% while under Blair inequality hardly rose and their income went up about 40%.  Now Tony Blair will always be remembered for his kowtowing to G.W. Bush and his complicity in the disastrous Iraq war. But, as far as his economic record, he did far better for all citizens of the UK than Thatcher ever did.