News from Sheffield Labour

Paul Blomfield backs Wage Concern campaign to save Minimum Wage

Paul Blomfield, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central, has met Treasury Minister Yvette Cooper, to discuss the attempt by Conservative MPs to scrap the Minimum Wage. On Friday 15th May, the Employment Opportunities Bill which has been introduced by Tory backbenchers will be debated and voted on in Parliament. If passed the new Bill would enable employers to “opt-out” of the Minimum Wage which was created by the Labour government ten years ago. Paul Blomfield strongly opposes the Bill.

Paul Blomfield:

“I’m backing the new Wage Concern campaign to save the Minimum Wage from the Tories. The Minimum Wage is £5.73 an hour for a reason; it is illegal for employees to be paid less than that. The Tory MPs who are behind this despicable new bill want to scrap the Minimum Wage and allow businesses to pay employees whatever they like. They want a return to the days of poverty pay, to the shameful days before 1997 when employers were allowed to get away with paying £1 an hour and they must be stopped.

“If this bill was passed unscrupulous employers would be allowed to reduce their employee’s wages at any point. It also would leave the door open for employment agencies to write a Minimum Wage Opt-Out into any contract for staff sign.”

Yvette Cooper, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“The minimum wage has helped lift millions of people out of poverty pay – two thirds of them women. It’s one of the Labour Government’s greatest and proudest achievements. The Tories opposed its introduction in 1999 and now this Tory bill would effectively scrap it. It just shows that behind David Cameron’s smiles the Tory party is just the same as it always was.”