Jeremy Corbyn says Britain’s lowest paid would get £2,600 earnings boost under Labour
2 min read
Britain’s lowest paid workers could be more than £2,600 better off each year under a Labour government, Jeremy Corbyn has claimed.
The party's leader cited House of Commons Library analysis which revealed that the manifesto pledge to lift the so-called National Living Wage to £10 by 2020 could boost the earnings of around six million people.
Employers are obliged to pay workers over 25 at least £7.83 an hour, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasting that this will rise to £8.65 by 2020 under the Conservative government.
The figures show that the £2,640 boost would see full-time minimum wage earners £19,553.57 a year better off before tax, over the £16,913.84 projected by the ministers' spending watchdog.
On a visit to Worcester Housing and Benefit Advice Centre, Mr Corbyn will also flag Labour analysis which reveals that the number of adults living in families where one or more person is working, but who do not have savings, has risen to 12.8 million.
This marks a 2.5 million jump since 2010, and a lift of over one million between 2015 and 2017 alone, the party adds.
Mr Corbyn will say: “With real wages lower than they were ten years ago, deep cuts to social security, rising borrowing just to make ends meet and the growth of insecure work, the Conservatives have created a perfect storm of low pay, insecurity and working poverty."
"This rising insecurity, with so many without savings to fall back on, is causing terrible stress for millions of families across the country.
"These scandalous levels of in-work poverty are unacceptable and must be brought to an end. Every job should provide dignity and security.
"That's why the next Labour Government will introduce a Real Living Wage putting over £2600 per year more in the pockets of around six million low paid workers, stop the roll out of Universal Credit and ban zero-hours contracts."
A Conservative spokesman said the Labour leader’s figures "don't add up" and trumpeted the Government's own record.
"It's because of our National Living Wage that millions of hard working British people have seen a pay rise increasing their wage by £2,750, with the lowest paid seeing the biggest pay rise whilst over three million people have been helped into work,” they added.
”At the same time we've cut taxes for 32 million people, taking the lowest paid out of paying income tax altogether, and taken action to reduce the cost of living."
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