The ten years between 2010 and 2020 are set to be the worst decade for pay growth in almost a century and the third worst since the 1860s.

That’s according to new analysis from the House of Commons Library commissioned by Owen Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

Smith says the figures show ‘workers are being served a raw deal under the Tories’ and that planned cuts to the incomes of working families through Universal Credit are ‘indefensible’.

The cuts to Universal Credit, which are due to take effect later this year, will mean 2.6 million working families are an average of £1,600 a year worse off, according to the IFS.  

Commenting on the new analysis by the House of Commons Library, Owen Smith MP said:

“This Tory decade of low pay will have seen workers’ pay packets squeezed to breaking point. Even with this year’s increase in the minimum wage, the Tories will have overseen the slowest pay growth in a century and the third slowest since the 1860s.

“The government is clearly failing to make work pay and that’ll get much worse if Ministers press ahead with their cuts to Universal Credit. The DWP has already conceded the first 200 hours of extra work by those affected will be to ‘recoup losses’ and, by 2020, 2.6 million working families will be made an average of £1,600 a year worse off.

“Workers are being served a raw deal under the Tories. With the smallest pay rises in a century, further cuts to the incomes of working families are indefensible. That’s why Labour is calling on the government to reverse cuts to in-work support before they take effect later this year.”