£113.66 worse off a month – new analysis reveals workers in Tower Hamlets have taken a hammering in 2022

New analysis from Tower Hamlets Labour, based on research by the TUC, reveals that wages of the average worker in Tower Hamlets has dropped by a staggering £113.66 a month – £1,363.89 a year – in real terms over 2022. This is the biggest wage squeeze in almost half a century.

This year, workers in Tower Hamlets have seen:

  • Inflation hit 11%
  • Taxes hit their highest level in 70 years
  • NHS waiting lists hit record highs – over 7 million across the country are now waiting for care

Labour Councillors proposed a motion at a meeting of Tower Hamlets Council earlier this year which put forward an entire package of meaningful support to help struggling residents in the face of the Cost of Living Crisis. This included measures such as allocating a £500,000 Council Tax ‘Hardship Fund’, increasing the School Uniform Grant funding and topping up the Discretionary Housing Payment funding pot to the same level as 2021/22.

These measures and more were voted down by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets and his Aspire Group Councillors.

Publishing the data, Leader of the Tower Hamlets Labour Group, Cllr Sirajul Islam said:

“This has been a dismal year for working people in Tower Hamlets. Wages are down, inflation is soaring, taxes are higher than at any point since the second world war, yet our public services are on the verge of collapse.

“After 12 years of Conservative rules our country is in a mess, and hardworking people are ending the year struggling to heat their homes. But Labour has a plan to get Britain going again built around a Green Prosperity Plan to bring down bills, boost growth and create a million jobs to help places like Tower Hamlets win the high skilled high paid roles of the future.

“This is a great borough, being held back by a failing Tory government and an Aspire Mayor who does not want to listen to the needs of our residents. But there is a cure – a Labour government and a Labour administration, and that’s what Tower Hamlets Labour will be fighting to deliver.”