This week, in his first Autumn Statement, Mr Osborne's successor Philip Hammond is expected to promise help for the group described by officials as Jams, the households "just about managing" to avoid poverty - and feeling left behind by globalisation. Many consider themselves to be part of this demographic grouping, with wages having suffered since the financial crash, while house prices in many parts of the UK have risen and inflation has fluctuated.
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The British government promised to help families that are "just about managing", but its measures to aid people in debt have been limited
UK's 'no-deal' Brexit plans warn of credit card fees
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has set out what he called "practical and proportionate" advice in case the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
The guidance includes instructions for businesses who could face extra paperwork at borders and contingency plans to avoid medicine shortages.
Britons visiting the EU could also face extra credit card charges.
Ministers say a deal is the most likely outcome but that "short-term disruption" is possible without one.
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason described the publication as a "vast swirling porridge of detail - much of it at a technical level, advising individual industries about the manner in which they are regulated in the event of a no-deal Brexit".
Labour said a no-deal outcome would be "catastrophic" and a "complete failure by the government to negotiate for Britain".
Just after the documents were released, Chancellor Philip Hammond reiterated a warningfrom his department of a 7.7% hit to GDP over the next 15 years under a no-deal Brexit scenario, in a letter to the Treasury Committee.
The timing of that release angered pro-Brexit MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said the Treasury was trying to stop Brexit, and that it consistently painted a bleak picture "because they are frightened of taking responsibility for managing the economy without the crutch of the EU".
What's in the no-deal Brexit plans?
In the 24 documents, which cover industries including medicine, finance and farming, it says:
The cost of card payments between the UK and EU will "likely increase" and won't be covered by a ban on surcharges
Businesses trading with the EU should start planning for new customs checks, and might have to pay for new software or logistical help
Britons living elsewhere in Europe could lose access to UK banking and pension services without EU action
UK organic food producers could face new hurdles to exporting to the EU
Pharmaceutical companies have been told to stockpile an extra six weeks' worth of medicine to ensure a "seamless" supply
The UK would continue to accept new medicines that have been tested in the EU
Low-value parcels from the EU would no longer be eligible for VAT relief
New picture warnings will be needed for cigarette packets as the EU owns the copyright to the current ones
Mr Raab said reaching a deal with the EU was the "overriding priority" and "by far the most likely outcome" but that "we must be ready to consider the alternative".
He also dismissed what he said were "wilder claims" about the impact of not reaching a deal, including that it could spark a "sandwich famine" in the UK.
"Let me assure you that, contrary to one of the wilder claims, you will still be able to enjoy a BLT after Brexit, and there are no plans to deploy the Army to maintain food supplies," he said.
The UK will cease to be a member of the EU on 29 March 2019.
With several sticking points remaining in negotiations, there has increasingly been talk of what happens if there is no agreement in place, including police chiefs warning of a risk to the public if the UK loses access to EU-wide crime databases and Bank of England governor Mark Carney saying no deal would be "highly undesirable".
Pro-Brexit campaigners have described the warnings as "Project Fear" - saying the UK has nothing to fear from leaving without a trade deal and falling back on World Trade Organization rules.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that such an arrangement "would suffice" and said the risks had been "absurdly overstated".
His fellow Brexiteer John Redwood said stockpiling six weeks worth of medical supplies was "a bit over the top" but that the government was being "ultra cautious".
In the heart of London’s theater district opposite the Savoy Hotel, with rooms for up to $800 a night, scores of people are lingering patiently on a balmy summer evening.
The snaking line near a branch of Coutts & Co., the bankers to the Queen, displays a portrait of contemporary London: men and women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, some speaking English and some Polish amid a cacophony of other languages. Some are dressed smartly in shirts and trousers, others in jeans and baseball caps. One man is wearing a food delivery company uniform.
But they’re not there for a deal on tickets to a West End show or a table at Gordon Ramsay’s joint. They’re there for food handouts from a local charity.
People queue at a kitchen run by charity Friends of Essex & London Homeless, in London on July 25.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
Images of rich aside poor, homelessness and soup kitchens are hardly new in a city that inspired Charles Dickens and George Orwell, or even unique among major urban centers across the world. But in Britain today, they reflect a society under increasing strain as Brexit – the relentless quest to leave the European Union – drains the country’s political energy and focus from confronting other pressing matters.
Government policy making has been paralyzed, unable to address the causes of the disillusionment that led to 2016's vote for Brexit while eight years and almost 140 billion pounds ($184 billion) of spending cuts hit public services and social aid. In London, the wealth and glamour of Europe's most global city mask a struggling underclass in jobs that don't pay enough to afford the basics.
Volunteers prepare food handouts.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
“I don’t have much food so I need to get it somewhere,” said Sean Gibson, 41, standing at the back of the line patiently waiting for his dinner from the pink marquee run by Friends of Essex and London Homeless.
He said he can’t earn enough to pay rent and eat as a courier for a food delivery company. At most, he says he was earning 960 pounds every six weeks in a city where average monthly rents are about twice that. “Half the rents here are 600 pounds and up. How can people afford that? It’s ridiculous,” he said.
Britain is increasingly a country of parallel universes.
Employment is at a record thanks to flexible work contracts like Gibson’s, the economy is healthy enough for the Bank of England to be raising the cost of borrowing, and absolute poverty rates are at record lows.
Yet a report by the Resolution Foundation think tank published on July 24 found living standards rose last year at their slowest pace since 2012. The recovery in incomes following the global financial crisis has even gone into reverse for the poorest 30 percent of families, it said. While London is the wealthiest region in northern Europe, the U.K. is also home to nine of its 10 poorest regions.
Public spending in Britain has fallen to about 38 percent of gross domestic product from 45 percent in 2010, according to figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Research by charity Shelter found that 55 percent of homeless families in temporary accommodation are working. The 33,000 families represent an increase of 73 percent since 2013, according to the research based on freedom of information requests.
“Everybody’s fighting for themselves now,” Mohammed Nazir, the cabinet member for housing in Slough Borough Council on the fringes of London, said after a meeting in the U.K. Parliament about homelessness. “Social consciousness is rapidly disappearing.”
