Writing for The Mirror the Chancellor says ‘a worker on the National Living Wage is expected to earn nearly £10,000 more than their equivalents in 1999, after inflation is taken into account’
Better growth and more money in working people’s pockets. That’s my priority as Chancellor and what our Plan for Change is all about.
And it’s why last week the Prime Minister said people should judge this government on whether we deliver higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament. Because the impact of good government is measurable.
25 years ago the National Minimum Wage was introduced by the last Labour Government to boost the pay of the lowest earners and ensure workers get a fair wage for a day’s work. That intervention made a real difference to people’s pockets.
From April 2025 a full-time worker on the National Living Wage is expected to earn nearly £10,000 more than their equivalents in 1999, after inflation is taken into account.
That’s a 77% increase from when the National Minimum Wage was introduced, showing the difference that a government on the side of working people can make. And it is proof that when Labour is in government we improve living standards for working people.
The Conservatives spent 14 years wrecking our economy and we inherited a £22bn fiscal black hole. We had to fix the mess they left. At the Budget I fixed the foundations to repair the public finances, restored stability and provided a much needed cash injection for our NHS to get waiting times back on track.
While protecting working people from any tax rises in their payslips and freezing fuel duty for drivers, I also confirmed that around 3 million workers will see a pay rise from April by increasing the National Living Wage from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour.
Not only will this put more money in people’s pockets to support working households while the cost of living remains high. It will also help get our labour market back onto its feet by rewarding work.
The number of people who are of working age but not currently looking for a job has ballooned to 9 million in recent years. But this pay boost and the expected above-inflation wage rises across the economy from this year to 2030 provide a strong incentive to return to work.
We’ll get Britain working again, crowd in more private investment to create jobs and opportunity across the country and make every part of the country better off.
Our predecessors achieved that with the introduction of a National Minimum Wage a quarter of a century ago.
Now with our Plan for Change we’ll deliver improved living standards again, as well as ending hospital backlogs, putting police back on the beat, giving children the best start in life and securing home grown energy. That’s the difference a Labour Government makes.
