HC Deb 19 February 1968 vol 759 cc14-5
15. Mr. William Price

asked the Minister of Labour when he proposes to seek to implement a minimum wage guarantee.

Mr. Hattersley

I have nothing to add to my reply to the hon. Member for Bothwell (Mr. James Hamilton) on Monday, 29th January 1968.—[Vol. 757, c. 216.]

Mr. Price

In view of the fact that the Government have promised to safeguard those who will have to withstand the burden of devaluation and other measures, when will my hon. Friend do something about the most difficult group of all, those on desperately low wages?

Mr. Hattersley

I am sure my hon. Friend knows that it is Government policy to assist the lowest-paid, partly through the criteria specifically directed to them in the Prices and Incomes policy and partly through the system of social security. He should know, if he is advocating a national minimum wage of about£15 a week, that the minimum cost to the country in a whole year would be£2,220 million, which is a sum not likely to be spent at present.

Mr. Crawshaw

Does not my hon. Friend agree that there is something wrong in a system whereby a man in full-time employment and with family responsibilities is sometimes worse off than a man on State assistance?

Mr. Hattersley

Of course, there is something wrong with that system and the Government understand the necessity to put it right, but it is not something which can be done in the short run.