That this House is appalled that the gap between rich and poor has widened to the biggest it has been in 40 years according to a report from the Joseph Rowntree Trust; is alarmed that the number of poor households has grown over the past 15 years, with households in already wealthy areas becoming disproportionately richer compared with society as a whole; notes that wealth patterns over the past four decades showed that the gap between rich and poor narrowed in the 1970s but that inequality increased during the 1980s and 1990s with a polarisation in British society; recognises that, since 2000, initiatives such as tax and pension credit have helped the poor although wealthier people have gained from the property boom; and calls on the Government to take firm measures to halt the widening gap between rich and poor.

That this House is appalled that the gap between rich and poor has widened to the biggest it has been in 40 years according to a report from the Joseph Rowntree Trust; is alarmed that the number of poor households has grown over the past 15 years, with households in...

That this House is dismayed that the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1997; is disturbed that the percentage of wealth held by the top 10 per cent. of the population has increased from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.; congratulates the Institute of Public Policy Research Commission on Social Justice, set up at the request of the late Labour leader John Smith, for drawing these worrying facts to public attention; and calls on the Prime Minister to explain why over the past eight years the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, with the result that the UK has become a less equal society, and whether he regards this as a success or failure of his Government's policies.

That this House is dismayed that the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1997; is disturbed that the percentage of wealth held by the top 10 per cent. of the population has increased from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.; congratulates the Institute of Public Policy Research...

That this House calls on the Prime Minister to state whether he regards it as a success or failure of his Government's policies that since 1997 the richest one per cent. of the UK population have increased their share of the national wealth from 20 per cent. to 23 per cent. and that the richest 10 per cent. of the population have seen their share of the national wealth increase from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.

That this House calls on the Prime Minister to state whether he regards it as a success or failure of his Government's policies that since 1997 the richest one per cent. of the UK population have increased their share of the national wealth from 20 per cent. to 23 per...

That this House is dismayed that the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1997; is disturbed that the percentage of wealth held by the top 10 per cent. of the population has increased from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.; congratulates the Institute of Public Policy Research Commission on Social Justice, set up at the request of the late Labour leader John Smith, for drawing these worrying facts to public attention; and calls on the Government to explain why over the past seven years the gap betweeen the rich and the poor has widened, with the result that Britain has becomes a less equal society.

That this House is dismayed that the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1997; is disturbed that the percentage of wealth held by the top 10 per cent. of the population has increased from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.; congratulates the Institute of Public Policy Research...

That this House is dismayed that the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1997; is disturbed that the percentage of wealth held by the top 10 per cent. of the population has increased from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.; congratulates the Institute of Public Policy Research Commission on Social Justice, set up at the reqest of the late Labour leader John Smith, for drawing these worrying facts to public attention; and calls on the Government to explain why over the past seven years the gap between rich and poor has widened with the result that Britain has become a less equal society.

That this House is dismayed that the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1997; is disturbed that the percentage of wealth held by the top 10 per cent. of the population has increased from 47 per cent. to 54 per cent.; congratulates the Institute of Public Policy Research...