THE DISPARITY between rich and poor does not arise by chance, it is encouraged by government, people living on benefits or low paid workers have seen living standards fall for years as ministers have cut the real value of their incomes.

Private sector workers are hamstrung by the low density of trade union membership and influence, as recently as the 1970s, most people were covered by wages council rulings, stripped away by Thatcher which removed a level of protection that the minimum wage has failed to replicate.

Employers and ministers are united in forcing down workers pay, the excuse being its necessary to protect employment levels, if this really was the case, there would be no company directors, commodity brokers and city traders (sharks) because they would have, as the jargon says, priced themselves out of their jobs, because those at the top decided corporate priorities that favour the elite, as do ministers, that is where their logic breaks down.

Mr T. King Five Locks Road Cwmbran