We are told Britain is getting richer, and yes, in some circles that is true. Take a look behind the statistics, however, and you see that a few people at the very top of the income scale are getting substantially richer, but at the same time businesses struggle to grow, our NHS and schools are starved of cash, and we face the worst decade for pay growth since the Napoleonic wars.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, published yesterday, there are now more billionaires in Britain than ever before. We should welcome their achievements and contribution to our economy. But Labour will measure our success not by the presence of billionaires, but by the absence of poverty and inequality: 4 million children live in poverty and more than 120,000 of those do not even have a place to call home – so somewhere in the government’s economic calculations there is a serious flaw, or rather a deliberate mistake.

'Brexit boom' creates record number of UK billionaires Read more

The low pay that some of these billionaires inflict on working people means that most of the 4 million children in poverty have at least one parent in work. Working people can’t make ends meet because prosperity isn’t being fairly shared.

The stakes in this election are high. It’s a choice between a Conservative government that holds back the majority of businesses and people in Britain, a government whose sole aim is to protect the wealth of a privileged few. Or it’s a Labour government that will build a richer Britain, one with an upgraded economy where industry and business receive the support and investment they need to become the best in the world; and where the people share in the prosperity created, leading richer, more fulfilling lives.

We know the past seven years have been hard on most people in Britain. Middle- and low-income earners have seen a decline, and a sliding level of expectation and hope about what life and our economy can offer them.

Yesterday we made a pledge to 95% of taxpayers on low and middle incomes – and, yes, some on very handsome salaries too – that Labour will not put up their income tax, VAT or national insurance for the next five years.

We were accused of trying to shore up our “core vote”. We’ll take 95% of the population as core, thank you very much. But these howls of protest from some commentators, no doubt themselves in the better-off 5%, tell you more about our rigged political and media system than it does about the fairness of the policy.

We have a crisis in our NHS, a crisis made in Downing Street. We have schools laying off teachers, with headteachers sending begging letters to parents pleading for help. Asking a sliver of people who are paid salaries most people could only dream of to contribute a little more to our society, and the public services we all rely on, is the responsible and reasonable thing to do.

The Tories, who have spent seven years cutting taxes for the rich and cutting services for the rest, are refusing to match our commitment, and you have to ask yourself why. The fact is, Labour is the low-tax party for people on middle and low incomes and the Tories are the low-tax party for big business.

The Conservatives pretend to care about working people and about building a fair society. But what was fair about the bedroom tax, about trebling students’ tuition fees, about taking benefits away from people with disabilities, and about closing Sure Start centres?

What is fair about handing tens of billions of pounds to the richest in our society in tax giveaways, while lecturing the rest of us about tightening our belts?

The 20 richest Britons alone are now worth £192bn, more than we will spend on health and education combined this year

Labour will do things differently. With her ludicrous posturing and megaphone diplomacy towards our European neighbours, Theresa May is trying to make this election all about Brexit. But it is actually about what sort of Brexit we get – what kind of a country we are after Brexit.

The Rich List is a perfect example. The compiler of the list said that while many of us worried about Brexit, “many of Britain’s richest people just kept calm and carried on making billions”.

Labour will negotiate a Brexit that safeguards everyone’s future, the jobs and vital industries, one that paves the way to a genuinely fairer society and an upgraded economy.

We were told yesterday that the 20 richest Britons alone are now worth £192bn, more than we will spend on health and education combined this year. Don’t let the Tories tell you the money isn’t there: it is – but in too few pockets.

A Labour government will transform Britain and make it a richer country, for the many not just the few.