[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by CaudleHalbard

Sorry but this has nothing to do with parties, which are an irrelevance.

FACT: our wage rates are too high to be internationally competitive.

National minimum wage has contributed to unemployment, without a doubt. Ultimately it needs to scrapped altogether, otherwise we risk losing our entire manufacturing base and we will become a nation of benefit claimants but with very little tax revenue to pay the benefits.

The future is very worrying.

All the parties know this. None of them are brave enough to say NMW should be scrapped. So they talk about freezing or cutting it. I guess it is a start though.

Are you having a bubble?
Looking at your statement objectively there may be a grain of truth in it...
BUT only if the rest of Europe raised theirs to be more in line with ours to stop the 'working tourists'...
And the cost of living dramatically reduced, at the mo food, rent, travel, and utilities make any reduction impossible to maintain any standard of living on any less.
And even on our minimum wage some are still welfare dependant especially in the south where the cost of living is a lot higher.