Scottish Labour Party wants to introduce a living wage
The Scottish Labour Party has today suggested a living minimum wage in Scotland which would be set at over seven pound an hour. However, one drawback with regards to the Scottish Labour Party suggestion is the fact that it would appear only public sector workers would benefit from this initially. The party hopes that it would then be able to force private sector companies to introduce a "living wage" although quite why the public sector deserves to be looked after before private sector employees remains something of a mystery.
At a time when the UK government is looking to slash the public sector budget how bizarre that the Scottish Labour Party is suggesting increasing the minimum wage in the public sector with literally hundreds of thousands of job losses expected over the coming months. This could play into the hands of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition and place further distance between the two separate political entities.
There are some who believe that the appointment of Ed Miliband as the new Labour leader is a significant lurch back to left. However, in many ways the Labour Party cannot win because many wanted to ditch the Tony Blair "new Labour" era but appeared unwilling to return back to the party's roots.
Share this..
Related stories
Alistair Darling admits that banking super tax has failed
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling has this week delivered a speech suggesting that his "banking super tax" which was supposed to hit those receiving bonuses in excess of £25,000 a year has effectively failed. He believes that due to the very loose wording of the regulations it was particularly easy for many of the high profile financial companies to potentially delay any payment...
Read MoreDepartmental spending cuts of up to 20%
George Osborne has today announced that a number of departments within the UK government could see their budgets slashed by up to 20% as the need to shave £60 billion from the UK budget in the short-term begins to become a reality. Departments such as welfare, tax credits and pensions are likely to be hit hardest with a major crackdown on benefit fraud and benefit cheats likely to be announced in...
Read MoreFury over Google's UK tax situation
It has been revealed that Internet giant Google would appear not to have paid any tax on UK advertising revenues of £1.6 billion in 2008. In a perfectly legal arrangement, Google has diverted all of its UK advertising earnings to an Irish subsidiary which saved the company an estimated £450 million in corporation tax for 2008. However, the revelation by the Times newspaper has certainly attracte...
Read MoreUK government set to turn on vets and lawyers
The UK tax authorities recently announced a tough review of doctors who are self-employed within the UK. However, the authorities have also announced a crackdown on vets and lawyers who should be paying UK tax and may have other sources of income which have yet to be declared. In exchange for reducing potential penalties by 90% the authorities have given those in these three professions the chance...
Read MoreIs Alistair Darling hiding further public sector cuts?
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has identified a potential black-hole in Alistair Darling's financial plans from 2011 onwards. While he has identified there is a need for up to £36 billion of savings from the public sector budget from 2011 onwards, £15 billion of these potential cuts have yet to be identified and will no doubt take in a number of "frontline" services which are supposed to be pr...
Read More