Has David Cameron missed the point?

Submitted by Kathryn Busby on 11 November 2009

On Monday night, Conservative Party leader David Cameron delivered the Hugo Lecture at King's Place in London. Polly Toynbee was there:

[T]he heart of his [Cameron's] message lies in his view of inequality. Cleverly, he refers to the ground-breaking research by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in The Spirit Level. In one breath, he acknowledges their proof that "the more unequal countries do worse according to every quality of life indicator." But in the next breath, he offers a complete non-sequitur that contradicts all The Spirit Level's findings: "That doesn't mean we should be fixated only by a mechanistic objective like reducing the Gini co-efficient." Of course not. You could not be a Conservative if you thought you should narrow the gap between top and bottom. Instead, he says "focus on the gap between the bottom and the middle." Of course! That is exactly what his inheritance tax policy is designed to do – leave the top well alone.

You can read Polly Toynbee's full article and a summary of David Cameron's speech at guardian.co.uk

As Polly Toynbee indicates, the Spirit Level's findings are unequivocal. In order to achieve the benefits of greater equality - and improve health and well-being for everyone in society - we cannot leave the top well alone. It is essential that we narrow the gap between the highest and lowest paid.
 
Equality is set to be a key issue for the forthcoming general election and The Equality Trust is calling on all political parties to commit to halving income inequality - please join our campaign today