Ten years of the minimum wage

One of the most significant things Labour has done since 1997 was to introduce a national minimum wage. We've now had a statutory minimum wage for a decade, and it's one of those policies that's become so accepted that it's now hard to remember what life was like before Labour introduced it.

So let's travel back in time 10 years. In 1998, when the Conservatives were aggressively opposing the introduction of the minimum wage; claiming it would lead to a million workers being sacked (this from the party that drove unemployment up to almost 4 million, incidentally), employees were earning as little as £1.20 an hour (1.38 in today's prices). That's little more than £55 a week.

Today, the minimum wage guarantees an income of at least £220 a week - and that's for all employees: agency, short-term contract, casual and part-time staff included.

But we're not resting on our laurels because there's more work to eb done on fair pay. One of the things I think we got wrong when we introduced the NMR was setting a differntiated, lower rate for the under-21s. To me, an equal amount of work deserves a similar amount of pay, regardless of the age or gender of the worker. So I'm pleased that as a result of the Labour Party Policy Forum held in Warwick last week, we've moved towards correcting this.

And, just as important, we're about to act to close the loophole that allows companies like Starbucks to discount an employee's tips from their pay - driving their basic pay below the minimum wage. This too is wrong - tips are the equivalent of performance related pay and should not be used as a sneaky way for greedy company executives to pay their frontline staff less.

This is another reason why we need a Labour Government. The Tories voted against the minimum wage. They tried to scare people that it would cost jobs. They were wrong. There's no reason to imagine their judgement is any better a decade later.

You can find out more about Labour's National Minimum Wage here.