Growing wealth inequality in the UK could be a “major driver of societal collapse” within the next decade, according to a new report.
The warning comes from an expert roundtable of senior figures from politics, government, academia, business and civil society, which concluded the country is currently on a trajectory of decline, with wealth inequality undermining social cohesion and a risk of further deterioration without intervention.
The report, by the Fairness Foundation and the Policy Institute and Department of War Studies at King’s College London, also looked at public attitudes, finding two-thirds (63%) of Britons now think the very rich have too much influence on politics in the UK – far higher than the share who say the same about businesses (40%), religious organisation (40%) or international organisations like the EU and UN (38%).
Teetering on the brink
The participants identified a negative feedback loop, whereby the government’s failure to tax wealth effectively means it lacks sufficient revenue to uphold the social contract by which strong public services, an effective social safety net and a healthy economy provide people with decent living standards.
Trust in politics then declines further, politicians avoid honest discussions of the underlying problems and what to do about them, and the system’s legitimacy is increasingly questioned as the social contract collapses.
A range of possible triggers
The roundtable identified multiple possible triggers for societal disintegration linked to, or exacerbated by wealth inequality.
These range from economic crises (such as runaway inflation and currency collapse) to climate events (such as a catastrophic failure of the Thames Barrier, or crop failures elsewhere in the world) and technological disruption (such as AI-linked mass unemployment and advances in quantum computing ending privacy as we know it).
The participants also highlighted several theoretical frameworks identify rising wealth inequality as a driver of societal disintegration and collapse.
For example, the scientist Peter Turchin collates historical evidence to argue that growing poverty, combined with wealth inequality and “elite overproduction” – where too many people compete for too few top jobs or positions in society º tends to result in societal collapse in the absence of determined action to avert it.
James Perry, who participated in the roundtable and is a member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, said:
“Wealth inequality presents a strategic risk to the UK’s economy, society, democracy and environment. The workshop organised by the Fairness Foundation and King’s College London clearly showed the breadth and depth of concern not only about the negative impacts of wealth inequality that we are already seeing, but also about the risks that these impacts could spiral out of control over the coming years. Urgent action is required”.
Katie Barnes, Executive Director of the National Preparedness Commission, said:
“The UK’s capacity to respond, cope with and recover from a range of complex risks relies on the individual and collective resilience of our citizens. That means healthy, fit and happy people with a sense of engagement in their community and wider society. Growing inequality presents a genuine risk to that resilience, acting as both cause and amplifier of multiple societal challenges. Adding ‘growing inequality’ as a chronic risk on the Government’s national risk register would be a pragmatic first step towards tackling this problem”.
Will Snell, Chief Executive of the Fairness Foundation, said:
“We didn’t expect a diverse group of senior people drawn from government, business and civil society to unanimously recognise the growing risks of wealth inequality in the UK. And yet the consensus in the room was that the risks were so grave that a catastrophic scenario like societal collapse was feasible within the next decade. One of the factors that undermines social cohesion is the public losing faith in democracy, and we are seeing the warning signs of that today, with our new polling showing that two in three Britons think that the very rich have too much influence on UK politics”.
Dr Jeni Mitchell, Director of the Future Threats Lab at King’s College London, said:
“It was troubling to see how quickly our workshop participants were able to construct scenarios in which wealth inequality contributed to spiralling societal breakdown in the UK. The day was not entirely without hope: our discussions also generated an impressive range of measures that could help alleviate this crisis. Yet there is little sign that such measures might be considered or pursued anytime soon, making it more likely that wealth inequality will deepen and become even more intractable. We must face the uncomfortable fact that, left unchecked, wealth inequality will threaten the stability and security of this country”.
Suzanne Hall, Director of Engagement at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, said:
“This work shows that we need urgent action on wealth inequality. The consequences of doing nothing are simply too grave. It is, however, the cause of some hope that these stakeholders were able to identify a number of practical policy changes and other interventions we can make to avert the risks posed by growing inequality. This study also demonstrates that when you bring people together from diverse backgrounds – in this instance senior leaders from across the political divide and a range of business sectors – to deliberate on a complex problem then people are able to work together to solve it. These approaches need to be mainstreamed if we are to tackle the intractable social problems society faces today”.
Last modified: January 28, 2025
