Alan defends the minimum wage
14th February 2009
On Friday former Southampton Conservative MP Christopher Chope put forward a Bill in Parliament to effectively abolish the minimum wage. Mr Chope said 'freely consenting adults' should be allowed to work for whatever wages are offered. Alan has slammed the proposal. He said:
"It was like hearing a 19th-century mill owner telling us why child labour was such a good thing for family budgets. The minimum wage has protected and helped millions. Not many people remember now that it was people like Chris Chope who said at the time it came in that it would be the ruin of the economy. It wasn’t then and isn’t now.
“It is very sad to hear these arguments rerun and very worrying when a senior Conservative puts them forward as possible future policy.”
You can find out more about Christopher Chope's Bill (which already has the backing of 1 in 10 Conservative backbenchers) and the reaction by Southamptoners by reading the Echo coverage of his bill.
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