John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the household disposable income and inequality figures published today by the ONS, said:

“Thanks to the longest squeeze in wages on record, we face the prospect of a decade over which people will be poorer than at the start.

"These figures further shows why it is the  completely wrong time for George Osborne to be taking money out of people’s pockets, but we can’t hope that this problem will solve itself. We need a Chancellor who will take action now to address our woeful productivity growth.

"They also demonstrate why George Osborne needs to listen to the OECD and invest in the skills, science and infrastructure that will deliver the high-wage high-tech economy of the future.

“It’s particularly galling that these numbers come on the day when the Tories will try to remove income from the official measure of child poverty, in a cynical bid to cover their record of failure.”