Britain is in a social recession. Three decades of market-driven capitalism have damaged the social fabric of this country. While Labour evades the problem, Cameron’s rebranded Conservatives are making it a central plank of their politics. They’re staking out ground that once belonged to the left, taking the ideological offensive that will cost this government the next election.

The symptoms and pain of the social recession are often concealed inside our homes. We experience them as our own shameful and personal failings. One in six adults suffer from anxiety or a depressive condition. A quarter of men and a third of women suffer sleep problems. The charity, Mind describes stress in the workplace at almost “epidemic proportions”. Mental ill health accounts for a third of all working days lost. To make the problem worse, over 1.1 million people in Britain are dependent upon alcohol. The social recession has contributed to an alcohol culture of broken relationships, domestic violence against women, chronic illness, and street brawling.

Children have been particularly affected. The 2004 Nuffield study identified a sharp decline in adolescent mental health. In 2006, Unicef published a report that painted a bleak picture of British childhood. Its summary of six dimensions of child well-being places the UK at the bottom of the league. Since then the Children’s Society‘s Good Childhood Inquiry and Cambridge University’s review of Primary School education have confirmed many of the stresses in children’s lives.

Both Labour and Conservatives claim that our class-based society is giving way to a more individualistic, meritocratic culture. But, though there have clearly been changes, class remains a central part of our society. One in six leaves school unable to read, write or add up properly. One in four 16-17 year olds are not in education, employment or training. There is less social mobility. Health inequalities are entrenched. Success in education, and life chances in general, remain dependent on family background.

We have become a society of a small number of winners and many losers. Half the population share just 6 per cent of wealth, earning the median annual income of around £18,876 or less. In contrast the top 1 per cent – 470,000 people – earn an average annual income of £220,000 and between them own approximately 25% of marketable wealth.

The shame of failing in education, of being a loser in the race to success, of being invisible to those above, cuts a deep psychological wound. This kind of ongoing humiliation creates chronic anxiety which dramatically increases the risk of disease and premature death. Inequality not only damages the life chances of people living in poverty, it adversely effects the quality of life of everyone.

Alongside affluence, market-driven capitalism has created uncertainty and a decline in a sense of belonging. Cultural difference is the prism through which large sections of the population experience and react to their insecurity. Political conflict around race and religion attempt to construct boundaries of identity which will define a sense of belonging and entitlement. Cultural difference becomes a focus for people’s resentment, fear and hatred.

The liberal economic policies of successive British governments have not only failed to end the social recession, they have contributed to it. A politics up to the task must recognise that alongside greater equality and fairness, individuals have four basic needs: for safety, a sense of belonging, a feeling that we are worth being loved, and the experience of esteem and respect. It’s a politics still to be made.