Only a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Government can address the growing gap between rich and poor in Britain

Britain is one of the most unequal countries in the world.. and it’s getting worse.

Five years ago, the 1,000 wealthiest Britons owned £519 billion – the equivalent of a third of Britain’s gross domestic product.

Fast forward to today, which sees the Sunday Times rich list reporting that there are 151 billionaires in the UK owning £525 billion of wealth – up 9.2% on the previous year. This compares to 104 billionaires with £301 billion of combined wealth in 2014. At the same time more than 1.8 million people went to food banks in the past year.

Britain also makes headlines in Europe for the unequal way in which the wealth is distributed, with the five poorest regions in Northern Europe to be found here. However, inner London registers as the richest area in Northern  Europe.

Incidentally, the five poorest regions West Wales and the Valleys, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and Tees Valley and Durham all voted overwhelmingly for Brexit, with Lincolnshire having the highest proportion of Leave voters in the country.

The two sides of the Brexit argument would ofcourse disagree over these stats, with Leavers obviously blaming the EU for the grotesque inequalities, while Remainers would say that it is not the EU causing the inequality and that making the country poorer overall will hit the poorest hardest.

That's as maybe, the fact of the matter is that the Britain is a model of grotesque inequality. The referendum vote was but the most obvious sign of discontent at this situation. It was a call for a change in direction and for government to start addressing inequality.

The austerity policies of first the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government, then since 2015, the Tories on their own, have helped increase inequality to these obscene levels. However, the gap between have and have nots has been growing with the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies dating back to the late 1970s.

The Labour governments from 1997 to 2010 did some disguised redistribution of wealth from rich to poor but nothing like enough to start bridging the gap. Poverty levels continued to grow.

There has been some recognition from all sides that this situation cannot continue. The sight of millions going to foodbanks, the growing number of homeless on the streets and children living in poverty concerns everyone.

There should though also be concern in the board rooms of business, where many of the superrich dwell. The popular anger will be directed there first.

But there are other elements of self interest impacting on this group. So, if more and more wealth is flowing to a small number of individuals, who lock it away or shift it offshore, then the wheels of the economy are not being greased. Put simply, people need to be earning and spending wealth for the economy to keep operating.

These developments have been recognised by the right of the political spectrum, with the Conservative government becoming a late convert to the idea of a living wage and the shifting of tax bands to put more money in people’s pockets.

Universal Basic Income is another idea that can be seen in this vein – a way to get more money into the economy.

What is required though is a truly radical Labour Government that will bring in policies devised to shift this inequality. The rich need to be taxed – including particularly those minimal tax paying corporations. There needs to be a reduction in the working week to four days, as well as possible the introduction of Universal Basic Income. Retirement ages should be lowered and the state pension increased. Anti-union laws must be repealed, with a real push for greater unionisation across the economy.

There also needs to be a mass environmentally sustainable council house building program to counter homelessness

Maternity and paternity provision needs to be improved and the successful Sure start scheme of the previous Labour government reintroduced and built upon.

The alternative is to carry on until there is a mass uprising against ongoing polarisation between rich and poor.

This could well provide further fuel to the likes of Nigel Farage and his far right associates, as they scapegoat the likes of migrants in order to seize power.

Inequality is certainly not going to be addressed by the likes of Farage and the increasingly Faragist Conservative Party.

A radical Jeremy Corbyn led Labour government can lead the way toward closing the inequality gap, making this country a better, happier place to live.