‘A nation of two halves’: UK’s persistent wealth inequality, poverty pushing it back into Victorian era

The poor in the United Kingdom are wrestling with the same hardships they were facing 15 years ago. As per a new report bythe Centre for Social Justice, an independent think-tank, there’s a “yawning gap between those who can get by and those stuck at the bottom”.

Divide despite wealth

In a 300-page report published on Sunday, the think tank showed evidence of a deep divide in Britain.

As per CNN, it shows that the nation's economic stagnation has made tackling poverty harder. Furthermore, the cost-of-living crisis has made hardships experienced by those least well-off harder.

Sophia Worringer, Deputy Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice, emphasised the stark contrast and said, "We have uncovered a nation of two halves."

"The general public for the most part can get by, and then there is this cohort of people whose lives are marked by family breakdown, physical and mental ill-health; who live in crime-ridden communities and experience multiple barriers to work."

Echoes of the Victorian Age

The think tank warns that the UK is "sliding back into the two nations of the Victorian era, marked by a widening gulf between mainstream society and a… poverty-stricken underclass."

Drawing parallels between the current situation and the Victorian Age, it says that the modern Britain is becoming similarly "entrenched" with extreme social inequality marked by poverty, family breakdown, joblessness, addiction, educational failure and more.

Stagnant wages, pandemic and more

"For too many, Britain is broken and the gap between the haves and have-nots is in danger of becoming a chasm," says the report's foreword, signed by Mervyn King, a former Bank of England governor, and others.

The report points out that average weekly wages in Britain have remained more or less the same since the 2008 financial crisis.

Furthermore, the pandemic lockdowns worsened key drivers of poverty, and had a "catastrophic effect on the nation’s social fabric."

During lockdowns, domestic abuse helpline calls surged by 700 per cent, and mental health issues escalated, especially among young people.

"One in 5 young people were left facing mental health challenges after the pandemic."

It also found that severe school absence increased by 134 per cent, while welfare payments rose significantly to 1.2 million people availing it.

The report warns that if the current trend continues, by 2030, a quarter of children between the ages of five and 15 will suffer from a mental health disorder.

Authors of the report, as per CNN, are working on "an ambitious suite of policy recommendations" which will be released next spring to help tackle "the root causes of poverty". Without a strategy to do so, "our future is looking very poor," warned Worringer.

(With inputs from agencies)