"I am very pleased to see this report come to council and to see the work that is being carried out across the Leeds City region and here at Kirklees council to tackle the issue of low pay.
"This report lays out some very good recommendations on how to work with employers and drive up work and pay conditions. This work alone though is not enough, and we must push for more to be done at a government level to tackle this growing issue.
"Before the election, David Cameron told everyone he was on the side of working people and now, less than 2 months on, he is discussing cutting the in work benefits of our lowest earners. The same people he promised to protect.
"There is an argument that people shouldn’t be reliant on in work benefits such as child and working tax credits but the reality is that in this age of low pay and zero hour contracts, it’s these benefits that ensure families and children are not living in severe poverty. Cameron says it makes no sense to tax these people and give it back in tax credits. What he fails to realise is that the majority of people claiming tax credits don’t earn enough to pay tax. Tax credits are given to the lowest paid in society whereas even the richest millionaires benefit from a rising basic rate tax threshold, so the lowest paid are losing money and the richest gain once more.
"What we really need to see is a commitment from the government to drive private sector businesses to pay the living wage in a way that mirrors the good work being carried out across the Leeds City Region and here at Kirklees Council. Sadly, there is absolutely no commitment from the Tories to do so. As the Child Poverty Action Group points out, the governments child poverty strategy last year didn’t even mention the living wage – until campaigners intervened.
"It’s reported that the four biggest supermarkets in the UK, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons alone are costing just under 1 billion pounds a year in tax credits and extra benefit payments. We are all, in effect, paying a huge sum of money so that companies can continue to underpay 22% of workers who are earning below the living wage. The only possible beneficiaries are the business owners, and so we continue the spiral of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer with the divide growing year on year.
"This report also talks about guarding against inappropriate use of zero hours contracts. This is definitely something that needs to be tackled and I welcome the commitment to ensure our own workforces and also our commissioned services are not using these exploitative contracts. Contracts that leave people living in fear from day to day as to whether they can pay the bills and feed their children from one week to the next.
"It is our duty to do everything possible to ensure that the people of Kirklees and across the Leeds City Region are paid a wage that allows them to live with dignity but it is also the duty of the opposition councillors in this chamber to lobby their government to stop this rising tide of low pay, tax credit cuts and zero hour contracts that have and continue to, push so many people in our borough into poverty."
