SIR – Despite what members of the Government claim, one of the undoubted truths of their ‘austerity project’ is that it has caused a lot of pain and misery, particularly for those people who are the most vulnerable and least well-off in society.

Another is that although we have been told that “those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest cost” (ie the most well-off), in reality, the richest in society have actually seen their wealth increase, rather than reduced.

Only this week it was revealed in a new Oxfam report that the UK’s five richest families have accumulated more wealth than the entire fortunes of the bottom 20 per cent of the population, with the gap between rich and poor growing still further.

The handful of billionaires have amassed a combined wealth of £28.2 billion, more than the poorest 12.6 million people in Britain. This charity said the findings were “deeply worrying” and that such inequality was a “sign of economic failure.” The report also reveals the UK’s wealthiest 0.1 per cent have seen their incomes grow nearly four times faster than the least well-off 90 per cent of the population!

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose