The have-yacht and have nots: Labour has 'failed to stop widening gap between rich and poor'

Labour has done nothing to reduce the gulf between rich and poor, it was revealed yesterday.

In fact, the gap is widening again and is the same now as it was when Labour came to power in 1997, with the disposable income of the richest Britons six times greater than the poorest.

On average, the poorest fifth of the population have 'original income' of £4,900 a year and the richest have about 15 times more money, with £72,890.

Even after allowing for redistribution through benefits, the gap is narrowed to disposable income of £10,110 for the worst off and £56,100 for the wealthiest, according to official figures.

This six-fold difference is the same as in 1997 and worse than in 2004/05 and 2005/06 when the gap narrowed to five times.

In a further blow, the figures from the Office for National Statistics show the least well-off are paying more taxes as a percentage of their income than anybody else.

The poorest 20 per cent lose nearly 40 per cent of their total income in taxes, compared to a national average of 35.3 per cent.

However, the figure is 34.8 per cent for the richest 20 per cent.

Tory Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond, said: 'This is yet more evidence that Gordon Brown has betrayed the poorest in our society.

'Instead of helping them to improve their living standards, he is hitting them with a rising tax burden.

'With the cost of living soaring, the Prime Minister must act now to give hard-pressed families a helping hand.'

The Tories said the tax burden on the poorest Britons had risen 11 times faster than it had for the rest of the population in recent years.

The figures come after the scrapping of the 10p starting rate of tax caused an outcry.

Under huge pressure from the Tories and his own MPs, Gordon Brown last month unveiled an £120-a-year emergency tax giveaway for more than five million of the country's lowest- earners to calm the storm.

The ONS figures divide Britain into five different income groups.

The gap in disposable income between the richest group and the poorest remains 'high by historical standards', said the ONS, adding: 'The large increase which took place in the second half of the 1980s has not been reversed.'

It said the latest increase in inequality was partly caused by a growing difference in the salaries of the best and worst paid, as well as slower growth in the level of benefits paid compared with rises in earnings.

LibDem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable, said: 'For all their rhetoric, inequality under Labour is just as bad as under the Tories and wealth inequality is even worse.

'These figures show just how wrong the Government was to punish low and middle income workers by abolishing the 10p tax rate in a quest for purely political gain.

'It is ludicrous that the poorest people still pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest. We need a fairer tax system which helps struggling families, rather than allowing the rich to take advantage of tax loopholes.'

Mr Cable added: 'Gordon Brown needs to stop thinking about the have-yachts and more about the have-nots.'