DR UK Signs Open Letter On Wealth Inequality

On Tuesday 15th October, The Fairness Foundation published a Wealth Gap Risk Register, an online evidence resource on the varied negative impacts of wealth inequality, along with policy solutions to address the vast gap between the richest and poorest in the UK.

The Wealth Gap Register explains the impact of living in a country where the richest 10% own about 50% of the UK’s wealth, detailing the wider negative impacts linked to climate change, housing, justice, democracy and employment. The Register sets out to communicate the evidence base for the impacts of the wealth gap as clearly and concisely as possible through a range of powerful and accessible data visualisations. You can view the Wealth Gap Register on The Fairness Foundation's website.

Alongside the launch of The Register, Disability Rights UK joined The Fairness Foundation and other organisations campaigning against injustice in signing an open letter to the Prime Minister. It sets out the nature and scale of the problem and calls for the government to treat wealth inequality as a strategic risk to the UK, and to tackle it with the urgency that it deserves. 

Part of the letter stipulates that the wealth gap "makes it harder to break down barriers to opportunity, in part because the same extractive mechanisms that drive high levels of wealth inequality, such as financial manipulation and corporate profiteering, also increase the number of people in poverty."

"There is a broad range of affordable, evidence-based, effective and popular ways to reduce the risks caused by wealth inequality. As a first step, the Government’s forthcoming budget should deal with the most obvious ways to better tax wealth, such as equalising tax rates on capital gains with tax rates on employment income, and pushing through with your plans to scrap the ‘non-dom’ tax regime."

Disability Rights UK is proud to be a co-signatory of this letter. Our CEO, Kamran Mallick, had this to say: "We stand with the Fairness Foundation and other leading organisations in calling for urgent action to address wealth inequality. The evidence is clear that the growing wealth gap is not only morally wrong, but it also poses a significant risk to our economy, society, democracy and environment. Disabled people are disproportionately affected by poverty and inequality, and we know that the wealth gap makes it even harder for Disabled people to live full and independent lives. We urge the government to take bold action to reduce the wealth gap and create a fairer society for all.”