Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ analysis of the Autumn Statement, said:

“The independent verdict from the IFS is that people will be substantially worse off after five years under David Cameron.
 
“That’s why George Osborne’s Autumn Statement has failed millions of ordinary people across Britain. It had no plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and earn our way to higher living standards for the many and not just a few.
“The IFS has confirmed that real wages are £1600 a year lower than in May 2010 and that incomes will be substantially lower at the end of this Parliament than in 2010. Of course families seeing real wages fall have also been hit by changes to tax and benefits. Analysis of IFS figures shows that families are on average £891 worse off this year because of tax and benefit changes since 2010.
 
“It’s an embarrassing blow to the Chancellor that his favoured measure of living standards turns out to include the incomes of charities and universities. And the IFS is also right to question whether George Osborne’s sums for future years really do stack up.”