George tables Parliamentary motion – urging Chancellor to reverse the UK’s widening inequality  

MP for West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Andrew George, is calling on the Chancellor to combat widening inequality and to repair the public finances with a fairer distribution of tax.  

Andrew tabled his motion as the Chancellor prepares for the Autumn Budget in just under a month’s time.   

Andrew said, “I agree with the Prime Minister when he said, ‘those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden’. For decades, the richest have got richer and the poor have continued to struggle. We’re a very unequal country. The top 50 richest families now hold more wealth than the poorest half of the population, and there has been a nearly 1000% increase in the wealth of UK billionaires since 1990.  

“I’d be surprised and disappointed if a Labour Chancellor didn’t take moderate measures to promote equality and lift the poorest out of poverty. This isn’t the politics of envy. It’s the politics of social justice.   

“I know right-wing lobbyists, media, MPs and commentators all peddle the lie that to raise moderately higher taxes on the wealthy would mean we’d raise less tax as many would move their wealth or themselves elsewhere, but that isn’t borne out by the evidence, as my motion shows.”  

NOTES:

Andrew’s Commons Motion is set out below:  

Matters for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to consider prior to the Autumn Budget 2025  

That this House notes the extent of widening inequality in the UK and that the top 50 richest families now hold more wealth than the poorest half of the population and there has been nearly 1000% increase in the wealth of UK billionaires since 1990; further notes that a dynamic study conducted by Patriotic Millionaires UK on the Sunday Times Rich List reported that £160 billion could have been raised for the UK’s public finances over the past three decades if those with assets over £10 million were annually taxed at 2%, whilst their wealth would still have increased at between 1.7% and 2.7%; believes that moderate taxes would not provoke capital flight as lobbyists assert and is repeated by some media and commentators; considers that just 0.01% of the richest households relocated after wealth tax reforms were introduced in Norway, Sweden and Denmark; highlights that the considerable evidence that low taxes on wealth can be counterproductive for growth and productivity and that research by tax policy experts at CenTax and the IFS shows that equalising capital gains and income tax rates alongside introducing an investment allowance supports productivity and growth, as does taxing share buybacks; also notes UK’s tax-to- GDP ratio is around 35% according to OECD data (2024), lower than comparable G7 economies France (44%), Italy (43%), Nordic countries (41-43%); and calls on the Chancellor to reflect on these factors as she considers her options for the forthcoming Budget.