Does earning £70k a year make you rich? Piers Morgan joins debate started by Labour

The debate has been raging on social media and in the pages of our broadsheets for a week: does earning £70,000 a year make one rich?

The Labour Party started the argument, by pledging to raise taxes for "rich people", a class they defined as those earning more than £70,000-£80,000 a year.

However, many said that this is a bad definition of wealth, and argued that earning that much in London doesn't make a person rich, especially if they have a family to support. 

Piers Morgan brought the whole country in on the debate as he said on Wednesday morning that he did not agree earning that much makes you rich in London.

He claimed that "70k in London would only buy you a bag of carrots".

Many disagreed, as that wage would put someone in the top percentage of earners, and tweeted that the television presenter was out-of-touch.

 The argument began when Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said last week on BBC Radio 4 that: “We believe … the rich will be above £70,000 to £80,000 a year and that’s roughly defined as what people feel is an earning whereby people feel they can pay more.”

Many online argued that this wage isn't unimaginable wealth, and is indeed an aspirational figure for people in many professions.

However, others pointed out that just over 5% of taxpayers earned at least this amount in 2014-15.

And Emily Thornberry disagreed with her colleague, saying “I think there are many people on £70,000 who may well feel that their circumstances are such that they are not rich".

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