Labour and Oxfam are in total agreement about tackling inequality

This year, Oxfam’s Winnie Byanyima was one of the six chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where she raised inequality as among the biggest issues facing the world. In fact, Byanyima, representing a large, well-respected, independent organisation, is pushing the exact line that Ed Miliband has been making his own – and that David Cameron recently halfheartedly echoed.

What’s more, when it comes to how to tackle inequality, Oxfam and Labour are in total agreement. Indeed, Oxfam’s seven-point plan for tackling inequality could almost have been drafted by Miliband: Three of their suggestions – clamping down on tax avoidance, investing in education and healthcare, and moving towards a living wage for all workers – have been the main lines Labour has been pushing for some time now. On Oxfam’s remaining four points, Labour is likewise stronger than any other party.

On tax dodging, Ed Balls pledged in November to tackle avoidance by closing down loopholes while also introducing ‘a tough penalty regime’ so that those found guilty will have to pay a fine in addition to paying back what they owe the British people. He also suggested ‘global reform’ of corporation tax, an early indication of the kind of direction Labour may take in rebuilding Britain’s standing in the EU after the trainwreck that is the Tory/Ukip approach. Additionally, Labour’s pledges to reduce VAT from its record high of 20% and introduce a Mansion Tax on residential properties worth more than £2 million matches Oxfam’s suggestion that the tax burden should be shifted ‘from labour and consumption towards capital and wealth’.

Much of the extra tax the Shadow Chancellor hopes to gain from the reintroduction of the 50% top rate of income tax and the Mansion Tax will go straight into rebuilding our public services, including the ailing NHS, which the last Labour government spent thirteen years nurturing back to health only for the Coalition to bring it to its knees in less than five. But Labour’s promises on public services will soon reach outside the comfort zone (and occasional comfort blanket) of the NHS: A forthcoming announcement on tuition fees will undoubtedly move Labour in the direction of affordable university education for all.

On tax and public services, then, Labour match Oxfam’s points almost uncannily. Of course, at a World Economic Forum, Oxfam are taking a global view, with some of the plan clearly intended for the developing world: They suggest introducing minimum wages (enacted by Labour in 1998) and equal pay for women (enacted by Labour in 1970 but still not achieved). Yet in these areas, too, Labour are showing a clear determination not to rest on their laurels. While in Opposition, Labour have fought for the reinstatement of section 78 of the Equality Act 2010, which would force companies to reveal their gender pay gaps. The Coalition dropped this Section and when Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, introduced a Bill to reinstate it only Tories voted against the adoption of this simple provision.

Ed Balls was recently in Washington to launch the Commision on Inclusive Prosperity (which also recognises the damage inequality is doing to us all) while Cameron posed for the cameras with Barack Obama. Oxfam’s recommendations, alongside Thomas Piketty’s ubiquitous Capital and Obama’s declaration in the State of the Union that that he will target the wealthiest 1% of earners to pay an extra $300 billion in tax, show clearly that Cameron’s presence on a podium with the US President was purely cosmetic: It is Labour that is leading the world on the economic challenges of today.