‘For too lengthy, laborious work hasn’t been rewarded – however we’ll make work pay’

The truth is, for too long, hard work hasn’t been rewarded.

Like millions of you, I started my working life on low-pay, never sure if I would be able to make ends meet by the end of the month. Over decades in places like the one I grew up in, the good, secure jobs our parents and grandparents could build a life on were replaced by low pay and insecure work.

Labour was elected on a promise to change that and to raise living standards for millions – and we meant it. In our first month around the Cabinet table, we changed the remit of the Low Pay Commission so that for the first time they took into account the cost of living when they set wages for the lowest paid.

And today, thanks to this urgent action, we can announce this Labour government is taking the next decisive step in Making Work Pay. For the lowest paid, today’s Budget confirms one of the biggest pay boosts on record – over three times the current rate of inflation, giving around 3.5 million workers a deserved pay rise to help cover their essentials.

It will mean a record wage boost for 18–20-year-olds working full time on the National Minimum Wage, who will see their gross annual earnings rise by £2,500 – a giant leap in bringing all adults onto the same pay rate. And for apprentices too – the skilled workers of tomorrow – it is a record cash rise, boosting wages by 18% and increasing their financial security as they learn their trade.

More than two decades ago, Labour introduced the National Minimum Wage, in the teeth of opposition and outrage from the Conservatives. We gave working people a legal floor that no decent employer could undercut.

Today, we have gone further still by more than covering the increases in the cost of living, because we believe everyone deserves a fair day’s pay, for a fair day’s work.

Over fourteen years, the Tories presided over a broken economy that had failed working people. This Labour government was elected on a promise to change that.

We were elected on a promise to Make Work Pay. With today’s pay boost for millions of people, we are delivering on that promise.