He wants to raise the standard of living (8)
I believe the answer is:
moralist
'he wants to raise' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'standard of living' is the wordplay.
'standard' becomes 'moral' (I have seen 'ethical standard' mean 'moral' so perhaps 'standard' could also mean 'moral').
'of living' becomes 'ist' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'moral'+'ist'='MORALIST'
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moralist that I've seen before include "puritan" , "Ail storm (anag)" , "Ethical figure" , "One teaching right and wrong" , "Disciplinarian" .)