Opponents say this will lead to a wage-price spiral – but that’s an argument that’s stuck in the 1970s
- Nadia Whittome is Labour MP for Nottingham East
While government ministers are once again focused on saving their own jobs, away from Westminster people are still struggling to stay afloat. There is rightly a focus on rising prices, but not nearly enough on the other side of the coin: low pay. Put simply, people are struggling to pay their bills because their wages are not keeping up.
This is not new. Average pay is still less in real terms than it was in 2008. More than a decade of wage stagnation has meant that sharp price rises have hit workers harder. A low-wage economy is a fragile one and, as we have already seen, can quickly result in people choosing between heating and eating, or unable to do either. In one of the richest countries in the world, this is the result of a political choice – and a repugnant one at that.
Nadia Whittome is Labour MP for Nottingham East
