Rishi Sunak's £1.5 million garden sculpture is at odds with UK's falling household income

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has drawn the ire of his fellow politicians after the UK government reportedly spent GBP 1.3 million, Rs 12 crore in terms of the Indian rupee, of taxpayer's money to acquire a bronze sculpture by a celebrated English artist for 10 Downing Street’s garden. 

The United Kingdom has been struggling to contain its soaring inflation, escalating household, and food bills. The Office for Budget Responsibility recently said that the UK had fallen into a recession, which would last more than a year and push half a million people out of work. Households are facing the biggest fall in living standards since records began. 

As per a PTI report, the sculpture, Henry Moore's "Working Model for Seated Woman", is believed to have been sold at a Christie's auction and acquired by the taxpayer-funded Government Art Collection in October. Downing Street on its part has said that no politicians were involved in the decision to acquire the artwork. 

UK’s prevailing challenges 

The UK economy is facing multiple shocks of late. The inflation is too high to handle after the coronavirus crisis, which has eroded household purchasing power since wage growth has been slower than inflation growth.  

The OBR has said the drop in household spending power has been very acute wiping out the UK’s last eight years of growth. The wage rise hasn’t been sufficient as compared to killing inflation and interest rates rise. The OBR forecast a 7 per cent drop in household incomes over the next two years, capping what one of its officials described as a “dismal decade” for growth. 

Besides, the UK is facing an acute energy crisis after the Russia-Ukraine war started. As per government data, the UK economy held up during the first half of 2022, but the Q3 GDP figure marked an official start of the recession and the economy is likely to weaken further.  

Sunak assumed office last month after Liz Truss was forced to resign as Prime Minister after being in charge for just 45 days. Sunak took charge with spanning economic instability, soaring inflation, stretched public finances, industrial unrest, and party politics criticism. 

In November, the Bank of England delivered its biggest rate hike in 33 years bringing the interest rate to 3 per cent. Despite the rate hike, BoE has not given any assurance of any rate cut against market expectations and has sounded an alert that the current market's rate path might induce a two-year recession for the UK economy. That clearly indicates Sunak has a tough road going ahead.  

(With agency inputs)