The not-so-good news

A study, based on figures by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility warns that on current trends:

The number of children in poverty in Britain will rise by 1.2 million by 2030

The income of high income households will rise 11 times faster than low income ones over the next 15 years. The real disposable income of middle income households will rise by 9 per cent but that of low income groups by only two per cent.

The total number of people who would be living in poverty would rise from 10.2m to 13.8m by 2030 meaning that one in five would then be below the poverty line.

The number of poor pensioners would rise from 1.95m to 2.59m.

The number of lone parent households living in poverty would grow from 463,000 to 1.08m.

The number of “poor” in-work households rising from 1.7m to 2.23m.

Andrew Harrop, co-author of the report said: “The picture of Britain painted by this report is hard to stomach. Our projections show that poorer families will see their incomes frozen for the next 15 years, even if the economy does well. The numbers in poverty will rise and many more families will find themselves unable to make ends meet. Emergency food banks would move from being a temporary phenomenon of the economic crisis to an entrenched feature of British life.”