Catherine McKinnell MP, Labour’s shadow Treasury Minister, responding to the IFS report on living standards, poverty and inequality, said:

“While David Cameron denies there is a cost-of-living crisis these figures show people have seen a substantial fall in their income since 2010.

“The IFS’s research shows that young people have been hit particularly hard over the last few years. Labour will act by boosting apprenticeships and making sure young people who don’t have the skills they need to get a job are in training, not on benefits. Our jobs guarantee will also ensure there is a paid starter job for every young person out of work for over a year.

“With home ownership becoming ever more out of reach for young people, we also need action to boost housing supply. Labour will back young people aspiring to buy their own home by getting at least 200,000 new homes built each year by 2020.
 

“It is also worrying that the IFS expects child poverty – which fell when Labour was in government – to rise under the Tories. Labour is calling for the OBR to assess the impact of Budget decisions on child poverty to make it harder for the Chancellor to continue ignoring the issue.”