The PM and the new boss at the Treasury face an even trickier task than their predecessors. They need a good plan, and we have one

• Alfie Stirling is an economist and director of policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

As Keir Starmer found, it takes more than words alone to warm a tepid bath. Voters reserve the greatest punishment for the politicians they think acted too little, or too late, to prevent them getting poorer. For Andy Burnham, much will now depend on whether he has got the right ideas, and in John Healey the right chancellor, to address Britain’s growing affordability crisis: not least as the new prime minister sets out new measures today to give people “some breathing space”.

Before Rachel Reeves took office, the average family was set to be worse off in 2029 than they had been in 2019. That’s not supposed to happen. The norm is for household incomes to rise by about £5,000 (2026 prices) every five years. Never before on modern record have they fallen across an entire decade.

Alfie Stirling is an economist and director of policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Continue reading…