Living Standards: Why Failure Means a Far-Right Britain

A meal out at the weekend. A trip away once a year. A treat or two for the kids in the weekly shop.

Not much to ask for, but many of the people who used to be able to afford a few small pleasures now worry whether the pay cheque will stretch to the end of the week or month.

Yet another poll, this time from YouGov, puts affordability top of the list of most important issues to Brits. Four in ten are struggling to pay for food. Almost as many say the same about their energy bills.

That's why I said at the beginning of the year Labour needs to have a relentless focus on living standards, to make people better off and – crucially – to stem the rise of the far right.

We are already seeing just how difficult this will be. Crises around the world threaten to blow the Government off course at every turn. With a volatile US president and ongoing wars across continents this doesn't look set to get easier. And it was never going to be an easy ask. Nearly 15 years of the Tories' failed experiments in austerity mean it's no surprise the economy will take time to turn around and for people to feel better off.

Public services have been pushed to breaking point, having a real effect on people's quality of life, and how they feel about their communities. But despite the challenges, there has undoubtedly been progress.

Boosting the minimum wage will put money directly into the pockets of working people. Cuts to energy bills, scrapping the two-child limit, record investment in the NHS, and the Employment Rights Act will make a big difference. But we need more.

The Government should continue to do all it can to tackle the affordability crisis – not least as getting pounds into people's pockets is essential to boosting growth. New employment rights will make work pay, but the government must deliver on its promises in full – ensuring all workers benefit from new rights to predictable hours, notice of shifts and opportunities to join a union – with no loopholes.

We also need to keep investing in our schools and hospitals and our creaking public infrastructure.

The TUC has long called for a new package of wealth taxes. When the wealth of billionaires is now at its highest level ever, there is certainly more we can do.

And a reset of our relationship with Europe, securing the best possible economic deal for Britain, will help lower supermarket prices and help insulate us from the arbitrary whims of the US president.

Finally, alongside government action, the Bank of England needs to go further and faster on interest rate cuts – making it easier to invest, spend and launch our economy out of the doldrums. A living standards turnaround is possible. At risk is not just the health of our economy, but also our democracy.

But if people don't start feeling the change they voted for, their faith in mainstream politics to deliver will be shot – and it will be those on the far-right, who offer easy answers and convenient scapegoats while lining the pockets of their millionaire backers, who benefit.