Better off: A plan to improve living standards in one parliament

At the next general election, ministers will be judged by Ronald Reagan’s famous question: “are you better off than you were?” When voters considered this question last year, they answered ‘no’ – and they were right. The 2019-2024 parliament was the first on record where real disposable household incomes were lower at the end than at the start. Little surprise, then, that a Conservative electoral wipeout followed.

Living standards shouldn’t be the government’s only priority. But they are a very real measure of whether people’s lives are going well and, understandably, it is often how the public judges whether a government is doing its job. For this government to secure a second term, it will need to deliver tangible improvements in living standards.

This report shows how the government can make people better off in highly challenging circumstances. It sets out how policies can be prioritised, coordinated and communicated in practice, with three key ‘pillars’.