Oxford folk £3k worse off under Tory Government since 2010

Since the Tories took power in 2010, people in the city have missed out on £3,060 in disposable income, according to a think tank.

The Centre for Cities compared disposable income with predictions based on 1998-2010 economic trends.

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The think tank also revealed the average person in the UK has been left with £10,200 less in disposable income since 2010.

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton implemented an austerity policy when he was elected as prime minister in 2010. The former Witney MP returned to Government last year as foreign secretary (Image: PA)

The damning figures come after years of austerity and cuts implemented by successive Tory prime ministers.

Experts said the Government had “bounced from one plan to another with 11 different economic strategies, nine business secretaries and seven chancellors".

A Government spokesperson said the number of people on low pay had halved with increases in the national living wage.

Disposable income is the money a person is left with after paying bills, taxes and covering for the cost of living.

The think tank used primary urban areas in its analysis, which is a measure of the built-up area of a city, rather than individual local authorities.

The analysis revealed 4.6 million new jobs were created across the country between 2010 and 2022 –more than the 2.5 million between 1998 and 2010.

But productivity slowed in the same period.

People in Oxford have missed out on £3,060 in disposable income since 2010 (Image: RADAR)

It increased by an annual average of 0.6 per cent in the period 2010-2021, while this was 1.5 per cent in pre-2010.

In Oxford, there was a 14.9 per cent growth in jobs, but the average productivity growth rate remained roughly the same.

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Dr George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: “Poor wage growth over the last decade or so is a damning indictment of a stagnant economy with no direction.

“Instead of spending the past 14 years investing in good green jobs of the future, we have bounced from one plan to another with 11 different economic strategies, nine business secretaries and seven chancellors.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to levelling-up every corner of the UK, investing billions to support community regeneration projects, connecting 25.7 million premises with gigabit broadband, and over 50 per cent of England is now covered by a devolution deal.

“We have halved the number of people on low pay with increases in the national living wage, and thanks to an above-inflation increase to tax allowances, we have also saved the average earner over £1,000 a year since 2010.

“We did so after two massive global shocks – Covid and Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine – which affected every economy worldwide. And yet, the UK has grown faster than Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Japan.”