Two government figures have claimed that the Tories would not maintain the increase in the minimum wage, leaving low-paid workers stranded
Labour party chairman, Ian McCartney, and the trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt, claimed that a Conservative government would let the national minimum wage, which currently requires employers to pay at least £4.85 an hour for jobs, "wither away".
Ms Hewitt told a Westminster press conference that Tory leader had predicted when he was John Major's employment secretary that a minimum wage would cost two million jobs.
Ms Hewitt said: "The fear that I have is that with the Conservatives, the minimum wage would be left to wither away. They don't believe in it. There is no guarantee the minimum wage would ever rise under a Conservative government."
Supervised by the Low Pay Commission, the minimum wage, started at £3.60 an hour in April 1999, rose to £4.85 last year and is set to rise to more than £5 after the election.
Tory leader Michael Howard was a vocal opponent of a national minimum wage before and after the 1997 election.
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