With the next general election in May 2015 only eight months away, the last round of annual conferences of the main political parties has taken on an added importance as they begin to lay out their policies for the electorate to choose from. Both Labour and Conservatives have laid out new policies on employment matters and the social wage.
Labour’s conference was held first. The key promise was to raise in stages the minimum wage to £8 per hour by the end of the next parliament, that is, the 1 October 2019 date for a revision to the minimum wage. From 1 October 2014, the rate is £6.50. Promoted as a flagship policy, it is intended to reflect Labour’s belief that the benefits of economic recovery have failed to get through to significant swaths of the population.
Do you have information to share with us?