HC Deb 05 May 1999 vol 330 cc930-1
5. Mr. Nick St. Aubyn (Guildford)

If he will make a statement about the effect of the minimum wage on the numbers employed in the clothing industry in Wales. [82089]

The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Alun Michael)

I am not aware of any impact on the numbers employed in the clothing industry. However, it is clear that 109,000 people in Wales will benefit from the national minimum wage. I am proud to be part of a Labour Government delivering on the pledge of a national minimum wage—something to which the Labour movement has aspired over the past 100 years.

Mr. St. Aubyn

When I asked a similar question two years ago, I was told that it was a disgrace that almost 60,000 workers in Wales earned just £2.50 an hour. We now know from a written reply from the Welsh Office yesterday that since Labour came to power, a net total of 1,300 people working in the clothing industry in Wales have lost their job. Is it a success or a failure of his Department's policy that so many people in Wales are going from a low wage to no wage?

Mr. Michael

There we have another bit of synthetic rhetoric from the Opposition. The hon. Gentleman refers to job losses before the introduction of the minimum wage, which he cannot blame on the minimum wage. The minimum wage will provide a quality of income that some of our poorest-paid workers have not had in the past. It will create a level playing field, and put money in the pockets of people who have been deprived of a decent income over the years. The hon. Gentleman should look at the policies of the previous Conservative Government and their impact in recent years.

Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West)

Is not the reality that tens of thousands of people in Wales who have suffered insultingly low and unfair wages for many years have at last been given a reasonable level of wages through this great success of our Labour Government? Will my right hon. Friend go further and link the level of the minimum wage with another level to guarantee that it increases in line with inflation? Could I suggest that the level of the minimum wage is linked to the level of pay of Members of this House and of the Welsh Assembly?

Mr. Michael

As always, I congratulate my hon. Friend on his ingenuity. There have been some disgraceful situations as a result of the lack of a minimum wage, such as an advert for a position in the private security industry which paid £2.50 per hour, with own transport and own dog essential. Such disgraceful situations will end following the introduction of the minimum wage. Certainly the increased incomes of 109,000 people in Wales will help the economy of Wales as a whole.