Miliband Sets Out Plan For £8 Minimum Wage

Labour leader Ed Miliband has pledged to raise the national minimum wage to at least £8 an hour if he becomes Prime Minister.

The minimum wage is due to rise from £6.31 an hour to £6.50 on October 1, but Mr Miliband plans to add £1.50 an hour on to that by 2020.

His increase would add around £60 a week, or £3,000 a year, to the pay packets of workers currently on the minimum wage.

And he said the rise would save the taxpayer "hundreds of millions of pounds" in welfare payments.

One in five UK workers - more than five million people - are categorised as being on low pay, defined as wages of less than £7.71 an hour.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Mr Miliband said: "Too many working people have made big sacrifices but in this recovery they're not seeing the rewards for their hard work because, under the Tories' failing plan, the recovery is benefiting a privileged few far more than most families.

"One in five of the men and women employed in Britain today do the hours, make their contribution, but find themselves on low pay.

"But if you work hard, you should be able to bring up your family with dignity."

A Burger King worker was the inspiration for Labour's latest policy

Mr Miliband added: "This week Labour's Plan for Britain's Future will show how we can change and how we can become a country that rewards hard work once again. Because Labour is the party of hard work, fairly paid."

The announcement came on the eve of Labour's annual conference in Manchester - the last before next year's general election.

Mr Miliband said he was inspired to bring in the hike after meeting a woman who worked in Burger King.

He said: "She had worked there for six years and I think she was number two there, but was paid just above the minimum wage.

"She said, 'It's incredibly hard for me. I live three miles away. I can't afford a car and there aren't many buses. I often have to take a taxi. That's where my wages go.'"

Mr Miliband added: "It's just so ­grindingly hard, and it's time we stood up for people doing these hours."

The planned increase, which would affect around 1.4 million jobs, would be introduced in annual stages by the Low Pay Commission before October 2019.

The promised rate is said to be similar to that in force in Australia and EU countries such as Belgium and Germany, but still lower than in France and New Zealand.

Mr Miliband told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "I can assure you, it doesn't cost money, it saves money. It saves hundreds of millions of pounds in getting the welfare bill down."

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