Average UK household £8,800 a year worse off than those in France or Germany

Meals are deliveredd to school children living in a block of flats in Twickenham, south west London. The Resolution Foundation said the poorest fifth of households in Britain were more than 20% poorer than their French and German equivalents. Photograph: Hollie Adams/AFP/Getty Images

The UK’s failure to get serious about inequality and weak growth over the past 15 years has left the average British household £8,800 poorer than its equivalent in five comparable countries, research has found.

A “toxic combination” of poor productivity and a failure to narrow the divide between rich and poor had resulted in a widening prosperity gap with France, Germany, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, the report from the Resolution Foundation said.