Jeremy Corbyn claims millions on National Living Wage could lose £5,000 by 2020

In his pre-Budget speech on Saturday, the Labour leader will also make a string of demands to Philip Hammond, including pausing the rollout of universal credit and the termination of the Government’s austerity policies

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
Saturday 18 November 2017 01:31 GMT
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Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at the annual CBI conference
Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at the annual CBI conference

More than three million low-paid workers could be £5,000 worse off under the National Living Wage than originally expected by 2020 due to slow economic growth, Jeremy Corbyn is set to claim.

In his pre-Budget speech on Saturday, the Labour leader will also make a string of demands to Philip Hammond, including pausing the rollout of universal credit and the termination of the Government’s austerity policies.

Citing a new Labour analysis, Mr Corbyn will say that due to slower economic growth the National Living Wage could see it reach £8.25 an hour by the end of the decade – rather than the £9.30 an hour originally anticipated when the policy was unveiled by George Osborne in 2015.

Earlier this year the Office for Budget Responsibility – the Government’s fiscal watchdog – said the NLW could fall to £8.75.

“The Tories’ rebranded minimum wage was supposed to overtake £9 an hour by 2020,” Mr Corbyn will say. “But our analysis shows that because of their mishandling of the economy and their failure to protect most people’s pay, it could actually fall as low as £8.25 an hour.”

Mr Corbyn, who committed to introduce a “real” living wage at the last election of at least £10 per hour by 2020, will add: “That could mean that an estimated 3.3m people will loose £5,000 compared to what they were promised. That’s a loss of £5,000 for the lowest paid in our society. It is completely unacceptable.”

But Tory MP Steve Barclay, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said: “Labour should look at the Government’s record – by introducing the National Living Wage we’ve given the lowest earners their biggest pay rise in 20 years.

“Labour’s tax rises would mean people have less money in their pocket and they would end up punishing businesses, meaning fewer jobs and lower wages. Only the Conservatives are building a Britain fit for the future.”

Addressing next week’s Budget, Mr Corbyn will demand the Chancellor reduces the wait for the initial payment for those claiming universal credit, ending the public sector pay cap, more money for schools and the NHS, a new housebuilding programme, and investment in infrastructure.

“The British people have suffered seven years of austerity. It has failed on its own terms, and enough is enough. Austerity has held down the wages of the many and driven up the profits of the few,” he will say.

“And with pay falling and the cost of living rising, personal debt has too often plugging the gap. Of course, bankers may benefit from this unfair and economically dangerous situation. But increased personal debt is an economic and political failure.

”It isn’t only Labour and the millions facing crippling debts who are worried. The Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the IMF have all warned against rising debt now that over 8.3 million people are over-indebted.

People aren’t borrowing to invest, they are borrowing to survive.

“If the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are serious about ending the longest decline in living standards since the 19th century, they must borrow to invest in our economy, services and people. And with the Budget on Wednesday, they must change course. Austerity doesn’t work.

Mr Corbyn will also insist at a gathering in Huntingdon that the divide on Europe in politics is between a Labour version of Brexit or a Tory one.

He will say: “The choice facing the country now is not Leave or Remain, but a Labour Brexit or a Tory Brexit.

“The Tories want to use Brexit to reinforce our existing system's inequalities and insecurities - and put them on steroids.

“They want to drive through more deregulation, lower taxes on the richest banks and big corporations, even more privatisation and further cuts in pay and conditions in a calculated race to the bottom."

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