Making Work Pay
Everything will be at the heart of Labour's general election manifesto it seems - not just the 'squeezed middle, but the low paid as well along with a whole host of other commitments from regulating the energy companies, controlling rents and renationalising the railways - if recent press reports are to be believed.
All of which reminds me of the old saying - that if you have too many priorities, in practice you have none.
So instead of trying to face every which way at the same time and make ridiculous pledges he will never keep, I think the Labour leader would be better off figuring out what he really stands for.
"Is Ed standing up for the 'low paid' or the 'squeezed middle?' because it's completely mad for him to be facing both ways at the same time.
Ed Miliband sets out Labour's minimum wage plans
Ed Miliband will unveil a report with proposals to overhaul the Low Pay Commission
Ed Miliband says a Labour government would set a statutory minimum wage target linked to average earnings, as he sets out plans to tackle low pay.
Labour will not announce the exact figure until nearer the general election, BBC political correspondent Vicky Young said.
But she said a party source had told her it would be a "stretching target".
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have already said they want a rise in the minimum wage.
However any major increase is likely to be criticised by business groups.
They are worried that it would drive up costs and damage competitiveness.
The Labour leader is due to unveil a report by Alan Buckle, the former deputy chairman of KPMG International, which details proposals to overhaul the Low Pay Commission.
Mr Miliband says he wants to write the next chapter in the history of Labour's battle to make work pay and he is pledging to increase the national minimum wage so it gets closer to average hourly earnings.
It is the first time the party has suggested a long-term link between the two and it wants the Low Pay Commission to be given a far broader remit including a wider duty to tackle poverty and raise productivity across the UK.
Labour will not say what the final level for the minimum wage would be but a source said it would be a "stretching target", not just what a future government could get away with one year to the next.
'Hard day's work'
In a speech following the launch of the report, Mr Milliband is expected to tell party activists in the West Midlands: "Britain is still one of the lowest paid countries among the world's advanced economies.
"So we have to go further, we have to write the next chapter in the history of Labour's battle to make work pay.
"That's why today, I am proud to announce that the next Labour government will take new radical action against low pay: a new five-year ambition to restore the link between doing a hard day's work and building a decent life for your family.
"A Labour government will establish a clear link between the level of the minimum wage and the scale of wages paid to other workers in our economy.
"We will say workers on the minimum wage must never be left behind because those who work hard to create our nation's wealth should share in it."
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has also proposed setting a long-term target and Chancellor George Osborne has called for the minimum wage to rise to £7 an hour.
The minimum wage will increase by 19p an hour to £6.50 from October.
Here's another newspaper article (from The Independent) which features Ed Miliband harping on about his favourite subject - the 'squeezed middle'.
Now if you ask me the Labour leader has his priorities all wrong because middle income earners don't really need his help for a variety of reasons, including the fact that housing costs for this group have actually fallen significantly in the past 6 years.
I think it reveals the rather strange thinking at the top of the Labour Party, which while in power back in 1999 (in both local and national government) sanctioned an £800 million a year pay deal for Scottish teachers - while reneging on a £400 million a year equal pay deal for low paid council workers.
The majority of whom were women of course.
Exclusive: Ed Miliband to the rescue of the middle classes as Labour leader says 'cost-of-living crisis' will be at heart of election manifesto
By ANDREW GRICE - The Independent
Ed Miliband has promised to rescue Britain’s struggling middle classes by boosting their living standards as he warns that the “cost-of-living crisis” will last for at least another five years.
Writing in The Independent, the Labour leader insists that living standards are “the greatest challenge of our age” and will be at the heart of his party’s general election campaign next year. He rejects calls from within his own party for him to change his strategy because the economy is improving.
He promises that a Labour government would champion the “hollowed-out” middle classes, by creating the decent, secure jobs they need and ensuring they benefit from the recovery. His appeal to this group will be compared to Tony Blair’s pitch to “Middle England” before he won his 1997 landslide, as Labour aides deny claims that Mr Miliband is focusing on the party’s “core vote”.
In a speech tomorrow, Mr Miliband will unveil plans to allow Britain’s “great cities” to become powerful “engines of growth” by devolving new powers from Whitehall so they can create “quality jobs”.
His refusal to depart from his cost-of-living agenda will worry some Labour MPs, who fear it is a diminishing asset because wages are expected to rise by more than inflation later this year.
In his article today, Mr Miliband seizes on new figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the fiscal watchdog, showing the traditional link under which earnings rise in line with economic growth is broken and will remain so well into the next five-year Parliament. “Real earnings will on average increase at only half the level of economic growth in 2015 and will still lag behind even in 2018,” he says.
He also warns that “middle-income Britain” will not enjoy the fruits of an improving economy without the reforms that Labour plans, because higher wages “will disproportionately benefit those at the top.” Mr Miliband dismisses George Osborne’s “conversion” last week to the goal of full employment. He argues that the Conservatives will not deliver on the promise because they have “an economic ideology built on low pay, low skills, low prospects and … low productivity”.
Labour doubts about his strategy may be reinforced by a study by the Social Market Foundation think-tank of the middle 20 per cent of the income ladder – between £21,100 and £41,200 a year in 2011-12. It suggests the squeeze on living standards has been exaggerated.
Emran Mian, the foundation’s director, said: “In reality the middle has coped surprisingly well since 2007-08… Even in the teeth of the recession, two-fifths of them moved up the income distribution. Just as many managed to stay where they were. By 2011-12, the middle as a whole had the same earnings in real terms as they did in 2007-08. With the recovery under way, their prospects are likely to improve further.”
Ed Miliband says a Labour government would set a statutory minimum wage target linked to average earnings, as he sets out plans to tackle low pay.
Labour will not announce the exact figure until nearer the general election, BBC political correspondent Vicky Young said.
But she said a party source had told her it would be a "stretching target".
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have already said they want a rise in the minimum wage.
However any major increase is likely to be criticised by business groups.
They are worried that it would drive up costs and damage competitiveness.
The Labour leader is due to unveil a report by Alan Buckle, the former deputy chairman of KPMG International, which details proposals to overhaul the Low Pay Commission.
Mr Miliband says he wants to write the next chapter in the history of Labour's battle to make work pay and he is pledging to increase the national minimum wage so it gets closer to average hourly earnings.
It is the first time the party has suggested a long-term link between the two and it wants the Low Pay Commission to be given a far broader remit including a wider duty to tackle poverty and raise productivity across the UK.
Labour will not say what the final level for the minimum wage would be but a source said it would be a "stretching target", not just what a future government could get away with one year to the next.
'Hard day's work'
In a speech following the launch of the report, Mr Milliband is expected to tell party activists in the West Midlands: "Britain is still one of the lowest paid countries among the world's advanced economies.
"So we have to go further, we have to write the next chapter in the history of Labour's battle to make work pay.
"That's why today, I am proud to announce that the next Labour government will take new radical action against low pay: a new five-year ambition to restore the link between doing a hard day's work and building a decent life for your family.
"A Labour government will establish a clear link between the level of the minimum wage and the scale of wages paid to other workers in our economy.
"We will say workers on the minimum wage must never be left behind because those who work hard to create our nation's wealth should share in it."
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has also proposed setting a long-term target and Chancellor George Osborne has called for the minimum wage to rise to £7 an hour.
The minimum wage will increase by 19p an hour to £6.50 from October.
Wrong Priorities (9 April 2014)
Here's another newspaper article (from The Independent) which features Ed Miliband harping on about his favourite subject - the 'squeezed middle'.
Now if you ask me the Labour leader has his priorities all wrong because middle income earners don't really need his help for a variety of reasons, including the fact that housing costs for this group have actually fallen significantly in the past 6 years.
I think it reveals the rather strange thinking at the top of the Labour Party, which while in power back in 1999 (in both local and national government) sanctioned an £800 million a year pay deal for Scottish teachers - while reneging on a £400 million a year equal pay deal for low paid council workers.
The majority of whom were women of course.
Exclusive: Ed Miliband to the rescue of the middle classes as Labour leader says 'cost-of-living crisis' will be at heart of election manifesto
By ANDREW GRICE - The Independent
Ed Miliband has promised to rescue Britain’s struggling middle classes by boosting their living standards as he warns that the “cost-of-living crisis” will last for at least another five years.
Writing in The Independent, the Labour leader insists that living standards are “the greatest challenge of our age” and will be at the heart of his party’s general election campaign next year. He rejects calls from within his own party for him to change his strategy because the economy is improving.
He promises that a Labour government would champion the “hollowed-out” middle classes, by creating the decent, secure jobs they need and ensuring they benefit from the recovery. His appeal to this group will be compared to Tony Blair’s pitch to “Middle England” before he won his 1997 landslide, as Labour aides deny claims that Mr Miliband is focusing on the party’s “core vote”.
In a speech tomorrow, Mr Miliband will unveil plans to allow Britain’s “great cities” to become powerful “engines of growth” by devolving new powers from Whitehall so they can create “quality jobs”.
His refusal to depart from his cost-of-living agenda will worry some Labour MPs, who fear it is a diminishing asset because wages are expected to rise by more than inflation later this year.
In his article today, Mr Miliband seizes on new figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the fiscal watchdog, showing the traditional link under which earnings rise in line with economic growth is broken and will remain so well into the next five-year Parliament. “Real earnings will on average increase at only half the level of economic growth in 2015 and will still lag behind even in 2018,” he says.
He also warns that “middle-income Britain” will not enjoy the fruits of an improving economy without the reforms that Labour plans, because higher wages “will disproportionately benefit those at the top.” Mr Miliband dismisses George Osborne’s “conversion” last week to the goal of full employment. He argues that the Conservatives will not deliver on the promise because they have “an economic ideology built on low pay, low skills, low prospects and … low productivity”.
Labour doubts about his strategy may be reinforced by a study by the Social Market Foundation think-tank of the middle 20 per cent of the income ladder – between £21,100 and £41,200 a year in 2011-12. It suggests the squeeze on living standards has been exaggerated.
Emran Mian, the foundation’s director, said: “In reality the middle has coped surprisingly well since 2007-08… Even in the teeth of the recession, two-fifths of them moved up the income distribution. Just as many managed to stay where they were. By 2011-12, the middle as a whole had the same earnings in real terms as they did in 2007-08. With the recovery under way, their prospects are likely to improve further.”
