Labour faces accusations of breaking manifesto pledge over minimum wage for young people – as it happened

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has not contested reports saying that, in the budget tomorrow, John Healey, the chancellor, will pause the process of equalising the lower national minimum wage paid to people under the age of 21 with the more generous national living wage that applies to older workers.

In an interview on the BBC this morning, Reynolds was asked to respond to a story suggesting the equalisation process has been put on hold because of concerns about youth unemployment.

In a story for the Times, Steven Swinford and Patrick Maguire report:

John Healey will announce plans to increase the minimum wage by nearly 4% but slow the rise for young people after warnings that they are being priced out of jobs. The Times has been told that the national living wage, which applies to those aged 21 and over, is expected to rise from £12.71 to around £13.20 – an increase of 3.9%. However, Healey has decided not to repeat the big rises of the past two budgets in the national minimum wage, which applies to those aged 18 to 21. It will rise broadly in line with the rate for older workers – from £10.85 to around £11.27, an increase of 3.9%.

In its manifesto, Labour said it would raise the level of the national minimum wage to the level of the national living wage to “so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage, delivering a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK”. The manifesto implied this would happen during this parliament, but in May Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, said implementation of this commitment could be delayed until after the general election – implying the government is worried equalisation now could increase youth unemployment.