The
Tories are today claiming that they will ‘continue increasing the National
Living Wage’. However, hidden in the small print of their press release they
let it slip that they are planning to water down the existing National Living
Wage.
This
change would leave the average full-time worker on the National Living Wage
£2,283 worse off by 2020.
Earlier
in the Parliament, George Osborne announced that the Tories’ so-called National
Living Wage (NLW) was to hit £9 per hour by 2020. To get here the Tories
promised that it would reach the level equivalent to “over 60 per cent of
median hourly earnings” by 2020.
Today,
they’ve broken this promise and changed their commitment to increasing the
National Living Wage only “in line with median incomes”.
This
means that the National Living Wage will be £8.20 in 2020 as opposed to the
promise of £9 per hour under Osborne.
In
contrast, Labour is committed to a Real Living Wage of £10 per hour by 2020.
Ian
Lavery, Labour’s National Campaign Co-ordinator, commenting, said:
“Theresa
May is taking working people for fools.
“This morning she claimed she was
standing up for working people, but hidden in the small print of her
announcement is a cut to working people’s incomes.
“The Tories cynical ploy to pull the wool
over voter’s eyes won’t work.
“Today’s ridiculous claims are yet more
evidence that this election is a choice between a Tory party that fails working
people and a Labour Party that will stand up for working people and deliver a
better, fairer Britain.”
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