UUP opposes Gordon Brown’s regional minimum wage plan
Plans by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reduce the minimum wage for Northern Ireland and other UK regions will be totally opposed by the Ulster Unionist Party, according to the Party’s Social Justice spokesperson, Fred Cobain MLA. According to senior Labour Party sources quoted in the national media, Prime Minister Brown is seeking to reduce the present minimum wage of £5.35 an hour to £4.84 in Wales, £4.80 in Northern Ireland and £4.78 in the North-East.
Mr. Cobain said, “the minimum wage was introduced as New Labour’s flagship policy. In 2005, when Tony Blair raised the minimum wage he declared, ‘this will benefit 1.4 million people … and it is a powerful symbol of how this country is changing for the good’. Now his successor is seeking to undo this by penalising those in low-wage jobs outside of London. The minimum wage is a powerful way of making sure work pays - of sending out the signal that our society supports those who take the decision to work. Gordon Brown’s plans to reduce the minimum wage will hit hard-working individuals and families throughout the regions of the United Kingdom.
“We all know that Northern Ireland - like some other UK regions - has unacceptably high levels of economic inactivity. In other words, we need to be getting people into work. Just how are we meant to be doing this when the Prime Minister is planning to ensure that work doesn’t pay? Getting people off welfare and into employment is good for them, good for local communities and good for our economy. It beggars belief, then, that Gordon Brown should be considering doing the exact opposite by penalising work”.