Equality - dare we hope for an increase?

Letter to my MP. Please feel free to copy and paste to your own MP.  This is the key question for any Government from now on.
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John Penrose MP
Minister for Tourism
House of Commons
SW1A0AA

Dear John

First, belated congratulations on your re-election, and becoming Minister for Tourism.

You may remember our discussing the work of Wilkinson and Pickett, published in the Spirit Level, http://bit.ly/djB4rn .
It shows an impressive and convincing array of evidence that income equality is associated with a more healthy society. Physical health, mental health, obesity, teenage pregnancies, child welfare, drug use, educational attainment, imprisonment rates, violence and social trust all show up as better in nations where there is a smaller gap between rich and poor.

As you know, the Labour Government’s record in inequality was poor, with a slight trend towards equality, defeated with a sharp up-tick in inequality since 2008.

I note that “Fairness” is one of the three main values nailed to the masthead of the Government.  I hope that this aspiration will translate into the hard currency of a trend towards increased income equality.

I would like to ask you therefore whether or not it is the clear intention of the Coalition Government to increase equality in its years in power?

Thank you for taking the trouble to clarify this point.


Kind regards

Richard