Living standards to fall

The UK is on course for its longest fall in living standards since records began over 60 years ago, the Resolution Foundation think tank said.

Its post-Budget analysis says the squeeze on incomes is set to last longer than that which followed the post-2008 crash. It says real disposable incomes are now set to fall for 19 successive quarters.

The Foundation said that tax and benefit policies were set to put downward pressure on living standards and upward pressure on inequality, and would take an average of £715 away from the poorest third of households a year, while giving £185 to the richest third.

The think tank was critical of the abolition of Stamp Duty for many first-time buyers. It said the £3bn cost of the Stamp Duty measure broke down to a subsidy of £160,000 per extra homeowner. The Foundation said this meant Chancellor Phillip Hammond could have simply bought people typically priced properties in over a quarter of local authorities, or built around 140,000 homes.