London workers need a £1 boost to minimum wage, says Tessa Jowell

 
Minimum wage increase: Dame Tessa Jowell (Picture: Nigel Howard)

Struggling Londoners should get an extra £1 an hour under a new minimum wage, Tessa Jowell said today.

Writing in the Standard, the Labour MP, who hopes to be mayor, called for a higher statutory rate in the capital of around £7.50 an hour.

She said she wants workers to eventually receive the Living Wage, which is voluntary for firms, of £9.15 an hour.

Around 110,000 Londoners are paid at or below the minimum wage. The move would help bolster Ms Jowell’s support among Labour party grassroots for this year’s mayoral selection race.

She said: “One in five of the people you see are travelling home from a job that doesn’t pay them enough to get by. That’s a scandal.”

Londoners on the minimum wage of £6.50 make £12,650 a year before tax. A rise of around £1 an hour would boost this to £14,625.

Under Ms Jowell’s plans, the Low Pay Commission would recommend a rate for London which the mayor could accept or reject. The move would cost £220 million but could, she argued, save millions paid out in benefits.

The independent Centre for London has shown that even a 20 per cent higher minimum wage — another £1.30 an hour — would not cost jobs.

However, Colin Stanbridge of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “Rather than potentially land businesses with an unaffordable £200 million per year bill, we need a solid evidence-based approach to wages, which the Low Pay Commission and Living Wage Commission are both already exploring.”

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