John Bercow MP: Boost the minimum wage

Marking the 10th anniversary of the minimum wage, Conservative MP John Bercow argues that a 10 per cent increase could help the economy.

I was once one of those who thought that the introduction of the national minimum wage would harm business and increase unemployment.

In reality, though, within two years of its introduction, I had come round to the idea, partly because it seemed perfectly affordable. In 2008, the Low Pay Commission’s ninth report observed that the evidence demonstrates no adverse impact upon employment as a result of the introduction of the wage or from its annual uprating.

Since its inception, it is estimated that approximately one million people a year benefit from the annual uprating.

The national minimum wage has been invaluable to sole earners. The sixth report of the Low Pay Commission, published in 2005, observed that although it was not the prime rationale for the introduction of the national minimum wage, in practice it had had a major impact on narrowing the gender pay gap.

Every year the Low Pay Commission looks at the wage, the state of the economy and what scope there might be for an affordable increase. Over the past 10 years there has been a compound increase in the national minimum wage of roughly 59 per cent. There are those who will argue that, in these straitened times, there must be a stay on the increase of the minimum wage or, at best, only a very modest increase.

I believe instead, however, that the government should consider a sharp increase in the national minimum wage this year. From £5.73, the minimum wage should be raised by 10 per cent – about 57p – to £6.30 or thereabouts.

Such an increase would be conducive to the economic good, would greatly increase the spending power of the less well-off, and could be funded by private and public sectors alike.

I applaud the national minimum wage. Before its introduction, the low-waged struggled to survive, often existing in extreme poverty.

The wage is economically justified, it is morally right and for whichever party wins the next election it has to be an integral part of a counter-poverty strategy.

There is a long way to go and I hope that we will see real and meaningful progress in the years ahead.