Sir Peter Barclay, who has died aged 88, played a key role in the defence of the welfare state during the Thatcher years. His greatest contribution was to chair the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Inquiry into Income and Wealth (1995), an influential early analysis of the impact of increasing social inequality in the UK.
The inquiry, set up in response to the gap between rich and poor rapidly widening during the 1980s, brought together a diverse group of organisations, including the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress. With great good humour and a touch of steel, Barclay managed to steer the participants towards unanimous agreement on a set of policy recommendations including the introduction of a national minimum wage and improved support for low-income working families almost all of which were adopted by the Labour government after 1997.
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