Milliband promises to increase minimum wage if elected

[Marty___Mcfly]

Milliband will never get elected because he comes across as an absolute gimp. He reminds me of Mr Bean. Whatever the political situation is, no one wants a gimp as Prime Minister.

When they pick a new leader, they can then just wait for everyone to get sick of the Tories and pick up the baton.

 

[Kevlar]

during the 50's and 60's wages increased at the same rate as productivity and GDP growth
this link has stopped over about the last 25 years here in uk longer in the USA
Faith in the market was meant to make wealth trickle down Reagonomics.
The reverse has happened .
Unfortunately new labour embraced the free market and even if it didn't we would
not have been immune from the GLOBAL financial crisis of 2008
Quite frankly this minimum wage increase is pathetic
Time for far more radical approaches
Democratic government has to embrace the monetary power of the state as well
as it's regulatory power to rule for benefit of the majority.
Job guarantees or a universal citizens wage - google them

 

[cunning fergus]

Balls in addressing the Labour Conference is digging up the corspses...............saying Labour should also have regulated the banks more effectively, should have done more to tackle underlying poverty and should not have abolished the 10p starting rate of tax.

Well that's nice................the best was yet to come though, as he said:

“Conference, we should have had tougher rules on immigration from Eastern Europe – it was a mistake not to have transitional controls in 2004. And we must change the rules in the future. Longer transitional controls for new countries. A longer time people have to work before they can get unemployment benefit. Stopping people claiming child benefit and tax credits for families abroad. Cracking down on employers who exploit migrant workers and undercut wages by avoiding the minimum wage and proper rights at work.”

So, Balls and Miliband who were at the heart of the previous Government and got all this wrong, have learnt from their mistakes.

Voting those two back into power would be like putting Hindley and Brady in charge of a Childrens Home.

 

[Codner pharmaceuticals]

Balls really didn't impress on Radio 4 this morning. When asked what the labour policies really were could only state that conservatives were devious.

Not really a strategy that one is it Ed?

 

[Deleted member 22389]

Balls in addressing the Labour Conference is digging up the corspses...............saying Labour should also have regulated the banks more effectively, should have done more to tackle underlying poverty and should not have abolished the 10p starting rate of tax.

Well that's nice................the best was yet to come though, as he said:

“Conference, we should have had tougher rules on immigration from Eastern Europe – it was a mistake not to have transitional controls in 2004. And we must change the rules in the future. Longer transitional controls for new countries. A longer time people have to work before they can get unemployment benefit. Stopping people claiming child benefit and tax credits for families abroad. Cracking down on employers who exploit migrant workers and undercut wages by avoiding the minimum wage and proper rights at work.”

So, Balls and Miliband who were at the heart of the previous Government and got all this wrong, have learnt from their mistakes.

Voting those two back into power would be like putting Hindley and Brady in charge of a Childrens Home.

As you know whatever they say in respects of immigration especially from the EU, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. Who are they kidding.

 

[Questions]

It's a very simplistic view. Some people have other incentives / needs for keeping a business running, they may have a family business and this is simple a case of weathering an economic storm, it may be they have Personal Guarantees against loans and don't wish to lose their house too or it may be, like me, that we are building something that will realise real value in the future but at the moment it's not able to support a significant salary.

When you have built this company that will realise real value in the years to come remember to backdate your employees wages to what most people would now consider a reasonable living wage, because I don't think £6.50 an hour is.
Maybe exceptions can be made to small companies with smaller turnover/ profits like yours but in general terms and I am thinking of the greedy big companies they should be made to cough up and treat people fairly.

 

[Seagull58]

No, I am not saying I am one of those who disagrees..........

But Cameron seems to be trying to rush something through, with Gove instrumental in pushing it from what I can see, when everyone else (not just Miliband) seems to want to take more time over it and do it properly.

Grant Shapps has said that this is "kicking it in to the long grass", but I think he is wrong. I would rather take a year to do things properly than 6 months to make a right cock-up of it.

The West Lothian Question was first raised in 1977 by Tam Dalyell. Isn't it time it ws addressed? They've had 37 years to think about it (and the issue has been raised many times in that period) and they should go ahead and sort it out NOW. With greater devolution of powers to the Scottish Assembly the issue should be sorted NOW.

 

[Questions]

[QUOTE

Voting those two back into power would be like putting Hindley and Brady in charge of a Childrens Home.[/QUOTE]

Yes that would be very similar.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Do you take any dividends from your business?

Not since the 2008 crash

 

[Dorset Seagull]

If you are running a business where you cannot pay yourself £8.00 an hour and after allowing for all the responsibility and all the paperwork you must have to do what with insurances, paye etc then I reckon you should be looking to do something else. You must be stressed to the max.
Your workers are on 6.50 per hr are they.

The only stress I have is the rushing to get things done sort of stress that is part and parcel of running your own business. Don't get me wrong this is a choice I have made after many years in a highly paid corporate environment where the stress levels were 10 times more.

 

[Questions]

The only stress I have is the rushing to get things done sort of stress that is part and parcel of running your own business. Don't get me wrong this is a choice I have made after many years in a highly paid corporate environment where the stress levels were 10 times more.

I am self-employed and love it. (Nobody would actually ever employ me to be honest)
It is hard work though, look at me sitting here at 1.25 on NSC trying to sort out this minimum wage malarkey.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Under the final tax year of the previous Labour government - 2009/10 - if an adult had been paid NMW for 40hrs worked for 52 weeks they'd have paid £1,117.80 income tax.

Five years later under the coalition that same person is paying £624.96 income tax - so almost £500 less in income tax. And, in that 5 years, the NMW has increased by 8.79%, so about 1.8% per year, so pretty much the same as inflation.

On the other side of the coin I reckon many self-employed / small business will not have seen their income rise by 8.79% over that same period.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

The interesting thing about all this is that every single business has grown through somebody ( Business owner ) generally taking a big risk in life. This often then results in somebody else ( Worker ) moaning about his lot and moaning about the risk taker who has provided him with the employment in the first place. Perhaps if the worker is so unhappy with his lot then he should take a few risks and start his own business and he could then employ people that could moan about him.

The simple fact of the matter is that the business owner will generally make more than the worker as a reward for taking the risks required so that everyone could be employed in the first place.

I know this is a very simplistic view but there is a lot of truth in it.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Under the final tax year of the previous Labour government - 2009/10 - if an adult had been paid NMW for 40hrs worked for 52 weeks they'd have paid £1,117.80 income tax.

Five years later under the coalition that same person is paying £624.96 income tax - so almost £500 less in income tax. And, in that 5 years, the NMW has increased by 8.79%, so about 1.8% per year, so pretty much the same as inflation.

On the other side of the coin I reckon many self-employed / small business will not have seen their income rise by 8.79% over that same period.

It's true. No politician would ever mention it because they would be crucified but the very poorly paid have done better than other income groups (in terms of relative wage growth).

 

[Pavilionaire]

I feel that if this is the best Miliband can come up with then it's pretty lame. He really needs to get a bit more creative about how best to sort the economy out. For starters he should be lambasting the coalition for not getting more production out of the Office For Tax Simplification - we've had precious little in almost 5 years and the PAYE / tax system has got MORE complex in that time.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

When you have built this company that will realise real value in the years to come remember to backdate your employees wages to what most people would now consider a reasonable living wage, because I don't think £6.50 an hour is.
Maybe exceptions can be made to small companies with smaller turnover/ profits like yours but in general terms and I am thinking of the greedy big companies they should be made to cough up and treat people fairly.

I wouldn't disagree with you, most small businesses do try to pay a fair wage, although don't offer the benefits of a larger company. Many, like mine, pay above the minimum wage and we also don't differentiate between a 16 and 21 year olds, as we could under the minimum wage rules. I do find the back dating comment a bit unfair as I don't think there would be many queuing up to repay the wages above minimum wage if a business founder lost their initial investment, and possibly their house, should the business fail?

 

[mikeyjh]

I entirely support any rise in the minimum wage but the one thing I'd love to see Milliband announce is the ending of zero hour contracts. They are in outrage and I know Ed talked about them last conference but I'd like to see him promise action on this one.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

I entirely support any rise in the minimum wage but the one thing I'd love to see Milliband announce is the ending of zero hour contracts. They are in outrage and I know Ed talked about them last conference but I'd like to see him promise action on this one.

Well remembered on that one. Increase in minimum wage and ending of zero hour contracts now your asking for far too much. I do remember a time when there was no such thing. You filled in an application form, you got offered an interview, if succesful you got a thing called a contract of employment which set out your terms. It was your legally binding contract between you and that business. Business loves these agencies and love the flexibility of being able to pick up minimum wage workers and then dump when they like. Your right it's completely wrong. I'm afraid migration from Eastern Europe has only fuelled these type of working conditions in this country, thanks originally to the Labour party.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I entirely support any rise in the minimum wage but the one thing I'd love to see Milliband announce is the ending of zero hour contracts. They are in outrage and I know Ed talked about them last conference but I'd like to see him promise action on this one.

This.

 

[Buzzer]

I entirely support any rise in the minimum wage but the one thing I'd love to see Milliband announce is the ending of zero hour contracts. They are in outrage and I know Ed talked about them last conference but I'd like to see him promise action on this one.

Totally agree. Zero hour contracts have set back workers' rights decades. They should be made illegal.