§ 1. Mr. WilkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the effect of a national minimum wage on the employment prospects of unemployed people in other EU countries. [31781]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Phillip Oppenheim)Reports by the OECD, the IMF and the European Commission confirm that a statutory minimum wage destroys jobs and job prospects, particularly for young people. That is most clearly demonstrated in France, where youth unemployment is twice the United Kingdom rate, and in Spain, where it is three times as high.
§ Mr. WilkinsonIt is welcome that my hon. Friend should spell out so unambiguously the potential consequences to this country of any imposition of a statutory minimum wage. In that regard, would it be only a self-imposed imposition, because neither European Union employment law, nor even the social chapter of the notorious Maastricht treaty itself, could impose such a requirement on this country?
§ Mr. OppenheimMy hon. Friend is right. A minimum wage will be imposed in this country only if it is imposed by the Labour party if it gets into government. Its policy on the minimum wage is doubly dishonest. First, it pretends to the less well-off that there is some easy, cost-free method of raising their pay. Secondly, the Opposition will not indicate the level at which it will be set until after the election. They are giving the less well-off a menu without prices in the hope that they will not discover the true cost for their jobs until it is too late.
§ Ms HarmanHow can the Minister justify to the House the fact that more than 1 million people earn less than £2.50 an hour? How can he justify the fact that the taxpayer has to pick up the bill for low pay to the extent of £2.4 billion? Is not the real reason why the Tories are against a national minimum wage that they are in favour of low pay? Is it not a disgrace that they have abolished the Department of Employment and that employment issues, such as unemployment and low pay, are to be consigned to the basement of the Department of Trade and Industry?
§ Mr. OppenheimThe hon. Lady is wrong. The pay of the least well-off has increased substantially. The pay of 730 a single man in the bottom 10 per cent. of earnings—[Interruption.]If the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms Short) will contain herself and listen, she might learn something. According to the labour force survey, which the Labour party says that it supports, the pay of a single man in the bottom 10 per cent. of earnings has risen by £27 since 1979—faster than prices. Under the last Labour Government, the pay of the same person would have fallen. Until Opposition Members can tell the country at what level they would set the minimum wage, their policy will have no credibility and will be nothing but a dishonest and cruel deceit on the less well-off.