The manifesto tax pledge has cost working people. Having previously hinted at raising income tax rates, the chancellor chose instead to freeze personal tax thresholds for three more years. A 1p tax rise would have raised the same amount of money but been less costly than freezing thresholds for anyone with an income below 35,000, she said.
The later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have long occupied an intriguing and contested place in discussions of England's long-run economic development. One key issue around which debate has coalesced is the living standards of the population as a whole and of different groups within it. We contribute to this debate by bringing forward new evidence on the material living standards of peasants, artisans, and wage-earners in the countryside and small towns.
Starmer emphasized that some figures concerning the public finances, particularly the projected shortfall, are not recognized by him and indicated a need to prioritize living standards.
