Between the mid 1960s and the mid 2000s, the living standards of the poorest half of households doubled. Increasing by 1.9 per cent a year, it took four decades to make this leap. To emulate that progress again, starting from today, would take 137 years.

This is not a state of affairs that can be blamed on Keir Starmer (though his government certainly isn’t helping) as the rot really set in after the global financial crisis which put the UK economy into a coma from which it has barely emerged, save a few flickers of the finger.

Productivity, living standards and economic growth have all stagnated leading to a grim state of affairs; GDP per head in the UK is around........

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