Labour is facing backlash from two affiliated unions after a government minister suggested that the party may postpone its pledge to extend the national living wage to workers aged 18 to 20 until after the next election. The commitment, made in Labour’s 2024 manifesto, promised to equalise the minimum wage rate for over-18s with the national living wage, which currently applies only to workers aged 21 and over.
Joanne Thomas, general secretary of the shopworkers union Usdaw, said the party must deliver the policy within this parliament. “We are deeply concerned by voices within the government suggesting that Labour’s manifesto commitment to end minimum wage rip-off youth rates should not be delivered in full,” she said. Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA transport union, described any delay as “disastrous”.
The national living wage is currently set at a higher rate than the minimum wage for younger workers, who face different lower rates. Labour’s manifesto stated that extending the living wage to all over-18s would deliver a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers. It had been widely assumed that the change would be implemented before the next general election, due by 2029 at the latest.
In an interview on Tuesday, Pensions Minister Torsten Bell said the manifesto did not include a specific timeline and that implementation would depend on advice from the Low Pay Commission. He insisted the party remained committed to the policy but refused to guarantee it would happen before the election. The government has tasked the Low Pay Commission with examining the issue, and some progress has already been made, with many young workers already receiving the higher adult rate.
