EXCLUSIVE: Angela Rayner said deep-rooted issues affecting jobless youngsters wound not be fixed by paying young people less – and said Labour must stick to its commitments
Former Deputy PM Angela Rayner said paying young people less was not the answer to fixing the Neets crisis(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)
Angela Rayner has said the Government must deliver on its promise to pay the same minimum wage to all adults.
Labour‘s manifesto committed to remove “discriminatory” age bands, and to increase wages for 18 to 20-year-olds so young workers are paid the same as those over 21. But questions have been raised over whether the move could be delayed amid mounting concerns over rising rates of youth unemployment.
It comes after former Cabinet Minister Alan Milburn warned one in six young people could be not in education, employment or training (Neets) in the next five years without urgent action. His review into the crisis triggered concerns about whether increases to the minimum wage were discouraging employers to take on younger workers.
But Ms Rayner said the Government’s workers rights reforms could help address the deep-rooted issues affecting jobless young people. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: “I don’t accept that the way to give young people a future is to give them insecure work that isn’t paid.
Alan Milburn’s damning review into youth joblessness exposed the crisis facing young people(Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)
“I think actually giving young people the opportunity to have a good, secure job is the way we push forward, so they can get housing, so they can get on in life, and have that sense of security.”
She said Labour must stick to its promises to the public. “If you challenge me – where did it all go wrong – I think it’s where we’ve deviated away from our promises to the electorate,” she said. “We made promises, we were elected on that mandate. I think we should work with the Low Pay Commission to deliver that.”
Ms Rayner acknowledged that the hospitality sector and high street businesses were facing real challenges – but said targeting the minimum wage was wrong. She went on: “We’ve reviewed business rates, we said we’d bring down energy costs, and obviously there’s been the national insurance contributions (Nics) rise.
“These are all added challenges for the high street, for businesses, for hospitality, where a lot of young people come through into the jobs market. Let’s look at how we can help and assist in that area before we turn around and say to young people, you need to be paid less.”
Workers over 21 are entitled to the full national living wage of £12.71 per hour, while over 18s get an hourly rate of £10.85. For 16 to 17-year-olds the rate is £8. The living wage in London, which is set separately, sits at £14.80.
The government has already started work to end the minimum pay gap between younger and older workers, reducing the difference to £1.86 an hour this year. It has committed to closing this before the next election.
This week, Employment Minister Kate Dearden restated the commitment on equalising youth rates and said the timeline was up to the Low Pay Commission. “When we’ve heard from the LPC around the impacts to the national minimum and living wage, particularly around young people, they’ve said quite clearly that they haven’t seen that evidence base,” she told The Guardian.
“Our ambition that we’re absolutely committed to in our manifesto is clear, and when I hear from young people about the difference that it’s made to them, in my constituency and beyond, they want to be paid, and rightly so, for the work they do. Young people still face the cost of living crisis as other people do too.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Our economy can only thrive when people have a wage they can count on.
“That’s why we’ve raised the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage so the lowest-paid workers are £1,500 better-off, and asked the Low Pay Commission to prioritise helping young people into work while closing the gap between the adult and youth rates.”
