George Osborne Proposes Minimum Wage Rises

Chancellor George Osborne has stated he wants to see the National minimum wage rise above inflation levels. If approved, the rise, sources say may ease pain for businesses, most likely with more cuts in employers’ National Insurance incomes.

Osborne said, "We have worked hard to get to this point and we can start to enjoy the fruits of all that hard work" and he reported to the BBC that our "economy can now afford" to raise the rate.

 

 

The National minimum wage is currently £6.31 an hour for people over the age of 21, £5.03 for workers aged 18--20 and under 18s rake in just £3.72 per hour.
 

Mr. Osborne told the BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson that he hopes that wages will increase by £7 per hour by 2015 for its value to return to where it was before the economic downturn struck. The rate is recommended by the Low Pay Commission, which is overseen by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable. "Because we are fixing the economy; because we are working through our plan; I believe Britain can afford an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage so we restore its real value for people and we make sure we have a recovery for all and that work always pays." said Cable. 

 

Robinson said that this announcement was likely to trigger an argument within the coalition with the Liberal Democrats accusing the Conservatives of taking credit for their policy ideas.Conservative Osborne's proposal comes after Labour claimed that the current economic upturn has not yet been transferred to the public and into transforming general living standards. He also attacked the Labour Party by stating that it was actually Labour's own fault for their negative perception in the Media and from the British public.

  

He said the coalition, since coming to power in 2010, had "rescued the country from the brink of disaster and got us into a position where we can now see the minimum wage going up for people and, more broadly. I want living standards to go up for the whole country as we fix the economy." But Mike Cherry of the Federation of Small Businesses said: ‘This (increase) is going to cause...real problems...it’s going to cost jobs..." And Yet the Conservative Party cannot deny the fact that working people earn on average £1,600 a year worse off since they came to office.
  

 The Conservatives organically opposed the creation of the national minimum wage in 1999, to which Osborne said: "The Conservative Party in the 1990s was on the wrong side of the argument... The...Party has changed. It's (now) a modern...Party in touch with the country." He added that the government was planning another "big increase" in the amount of money people can earn before paying income tax and defended his plans to remove a further £12 billion from the country's welfare budget.

George Osborne is also prepared to offer more tax breaks for businesses to help compensate them for an inflation busting rise in the minimum wage, Government sources say. If the rise is approved by the Independent Low Pay Commission, Government sources say he is likely to ease the pain for businesses, most likely with more cuts in employers’ National Insurance contributions.
 

The Chancellor’s announcement of a possible minimum wage increase delighted most Tory MPs, who believe it will eradicate Labour claims that only the most wealthy British citizens are enjoying the benefits many of the slow and steady economic recovery.
 

Almost two thirds of UK voters think a hung parliament at the next election would be bad for the country , but half believe it will happen anyway. Revealing that Britain is turning against the entire concept of a coalition, a survey found that 60% now say the joining of two parties in power was bad for Britain, which is almost double the figure for those who believe it was positive.
 

It's interesting to note that this swoop is predicted to come into practice just 7 months before the next general election and it has arrived on the eve of a heavily anticipated major speech by Ed Miliband about the economy in which he is to call for limits on the size of high street banks.
 

Political voters must always retain how competitive Political parties are against one another, and proposal often take a vast amount of time to be approved, put into practice and eventually have an effect on Britons and our finances.