Beyond Left and Right: - Finding Consensus on Economic Inequality

This draws on the notion that many people and communities across the UK have been left behind, and thus require targeted measures to rebalance or ‘level up’ the disparity between them and wealthier areas.1 It is at the heart of the narrative around the so-called “Red Wall” – the swathe of constituencies in the Midlands and North of England that were traditional Labour heartlands but increasingly v. [...] The effects of climate change are felt disproportionately in the majority world, deepening long-existent inequalities.14 Addressing inequality requires us to both improve the life chances of the very poorest and restrain the excesses of the very rich, since to do one without the other would overstretch the planet’s limited resources. [...] Black liberation theologian James H Cone viewed the scandal of poverty and economic oppression as the only possible starting point for theology; anything else, he said, would be a contradiction of the purpose of scripture.9 As we explore in the next chapter, this is central to the economic vision of both the Old Testament and of theologians throughout the ages. [...] 3 Church of England, Executive Remuneration: The Policy of the National Investing Bodies of the Church of England and the Advisory Paper of the Ethical Investment Advisory Group of the Church of England, 2019, p. [...] Anglican bishop John Taylor noted that in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the prodigal “remembered his father’s home as the place where even the lowest paid servant has enough and to spare” and sees this as an endorsement of the virtue of enough.27 The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) is instructive on the universal responsibility to love our neighbour, as well as challenging societal prec.