We heard similar arguments from Tories before when the minimum wage was first introduced, only for them to realise that businesses didn’t collapse and nor was it detrimental to the economy.
The Tories never have been the party of working people, with a long standing opposition to the minimum wage when it was first introduced.
Now the current Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wishes to continue that legacy, telling journalists that the minimum wage for millions of low-paid employees should not go any higher.
Badenoch is furious that Chancellor Rachel Reeves decided to raise the pay for workers at the Budget last month. From April 2026, the government’s National Living Wage will increase to £12.71 per hour for workers over 21-years-old.
The National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will also increase by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour.
Badenoch made her displeasure about the raise clear during an interview with the BBC, where she said that she didn’t think the minimum wage should be raised any further as she didn’t believe businesses could afford it.
She said: “I don’t think that we should be raising it any more for example, we’ve seen that too many businesses can’t pay for it. You can make the minimum wage £1,000 per hour, if businesses can’t pay it none of us are going to have a job.”
We heard similar arguments from Tories before when the minimum wage was first introduced, only for them to realise that businesses didn’t collapse and nor was it detrimental to the economy.
Tories have never been on the side of workers.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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