Larry Elliott’s attack on economic policy (Falling wages show the economy is still struggling, 8 May) does not go far enough. Real GDP per head just crept back in 2015 to the level it was in 2007. Given that productive resources did not fall in that period, this represents a complete waste. It is worse than that. Real GDP per head shows a very strong trend going back decades.
If we take that trend line as a measure of productive capacity, the waste is much higher; the loss up to 2016 is roughly £25,000 per head. Moreover it is caused by the destructive blood-letting that is austerity. I recall the 2010 Tory slogan that promised to “cut the deficit, not the NHS”. Ha!
John Levi
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Philip Inman is so right (Drive Carefully – I can see a credit car crash ahead, 9 May). In January I tried to purchase a replacement car – same garage, make and model – with the money in my bank to pay for it. The garage wasn’t interested in anything but a PCP (personal contract purchase) deal. The amount they offered for a part-exchange was minimal, but the add-ons for a leasing deal were considerable; in vain did I protest that I never used credit (other than for a mortgage).
Despite considering myself financially competent, I found difficulty in understanding exactly what this deal involved and had to check several times – clearly staff commission for a PCP must be significant. At no point was I asked about credit history. I considered going elsewhere but it seems this sort of PCP sales pressure is ubiquitous. I now intend to pay off the full amount in the next few months because I resent having a debt that I neither need nor want. But there are many not in this happy position who may well find themselves in serious financial difficulty.
Maureen Panton
Malvern, Worcestershire
• I see that the 1,000 richest people in the UK have combined wealth of £658bn (Report, 8 May) and that in the last year that wealth has increased by £83bn. That’s an average increase of £83m each. The UK average annual income is £27,000, which means it would take the working lifetime of over 70 people to amass what is just the increase in one year for the richest 1,000. It would be interesting to know what tax is paid by these people on what will largely be an unearned capital gain. This is obscene and provides an unanswerable case for a substantial wealth tax. That the government chooses to do nothing about it is a clear policy choice, as is the austerity foisted on those at the bottom of the income and wealth scale. Are these the hard-working just about managing that Theresa May bangs on about?
Alan Healey
Bishops Castle, Shropshire
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