§ 16. Mr. NorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has received any representations from the Fabian Society concerning proposals for a national minimum wage.
§ Mr. HowardI have not received any representations from the Fabian Society but I have a copy of its recent pamphlet "Making a Minimum Wage Work". The Fabians quote an independent estimate that the Labour party's policy for a national minimum wage could destroy up to 880,000 jobs.
§ Mr. NorrisAs it is now well known that a policy of minimum wages is likely to destroy jobs in their hundreds of thousands, will my right hon. and learned Friend take steps to abolish the remainder of the wages councils, which do nothing to protect employment and everything to destroy jobs?
§ Mr. HowardI have already made it clear that wages councils do not have a permanent place in our system. As to the minimum wage, I want to be fair to the Labour party. I am prepared to make it this offer. If it does not accept our estimates of how many jobs a minimum wage would cost, it can let me have its estimate of how many jobs it would cost. I am prepared to have its estimates examined by my Department's officials. We will publish the results and let the country know them so that everyone knows just how devastatingly damaging the Labour party's proposals would be.