Emma Reynolds, Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East and Shadow Housing Minister, has voted in Parliament in favour of an increase in the minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2020. The Conservatives voted against the increase.The next Labour government will increase the minimum wage and this will be implemented by the Low Pay Commission over the course of the next Parliament. Forecasts show that this increase will be worth £3,000 a year for a full time worker currently on the minimum wage. Labour is proposing this increase because of the loss of the real value of the minimum wage due to inflation. This is meaning more and more people are finding it harder to meet ends meet. There has also been a huge increase in the number of low paid jobs.

Taxpayers are increasingly subsidising employers who are paying wages that are too low. The falling value of the minimum wage has cost an additional £270m of taxpayers’ money in extra public spending on in-work benefits and tax credits in the last year alone.

Emma said “I support a higher minimum wage for hard working people in Wolverhampton. The introduction of the minimum wage in 1997 was one of the last Labour government’s greatest achievements. It raised pay for people without causing job losses.

“The minimum wage was originally designed to prevent exploitation and extreme low wages, however under this government it is not rising fast enough. Under the Tories, working people are now on average £1,600 a year worse off. ‎It cannot be right that in Britain today over 5 million people, or 1 in 5 employees, is low paid.

“A higher minimum wage will bring down the benefit bill and save taxpayers money. At present, the scandal of low pay by employers means that the benefits bill is going up. Last year it cost taxpayers an additional £270 million. Since 2010, 60% of the increase in housing benefit has been caused by people in work not earning enough.

“Politicians need to make sure that work pays for people. To do this the minimum wage must be raised to tackle the problem of low pay. That’s why I support plans to increase the minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2020.”

October 2014