I was delighted to hear the Chancellor George Osborne confirm a compulsory Living Wage for all over 25s during Wednesday 8th July’s Budget.
The first fully Conservative Budget since 1996 confirms what the Prime Minister said after the General Election, that we would be a government for all in Britain, for One Nation. The Chancellor confirmed and delivered our manifesto promise to increase the National Minimum Wage incrementally to £9 by 2020, and that starting in April 2016 it will stand at £7.20 an hour.
Introducing the Living Wage is absolutely the right thing to do. We have gone further for people on lower incomes who also have the assurance of the Chancellor that the Personal Tax Allowance will always increase along with the Minimum Wage.
Furthermore with the increase in the amount you can earn, before you pay Income Tax, will rise from £10,600 to £11,000. This will save the average taxpayer an extra £80 a year, which means average earners will be paying £905 less in tax than when I was first elected in 2010.
We have also delivered on our promise to cut Corporation Tax and extend the National Insurance ‘Holiday’. This will help businesses in South Derbyshire as it means they will have more money available to pay their workers the new Living Wage amount. Employers in South Derbyshire such as Faccenda and Nestle already pay their workers this wage as a minimum, but we must ensure that everyone no matter what kind of job they do have the security of a Living Wage pay packet at the end of the month.