Chancellor May Break Minimum Wage Promise for Younger Workers; Perth Teenagers Demand to Know What ‘Experience’ They Are Supposedly Gaining by Stacking Crisps

By our Pocket Money Correspondent

Chancellor John Healey has suggested the government may break its promise to give younger workers the full adult minimum wage, and Perth’s teenagers are not taking it quietly.

“I do the same shift as Brian, I stack the same crisps, I get the same backache,” said an 18-year-old from Letham who works Saturdays at a Perth supermarket. “The only difference is Brian’s 23 and he tells me about his fantasy football team. I should get extra for that.”

Business groups in Tayside have warned that big wage rises could make it harder for young people to find jobs. A Perth café owner said she understood both sides. “I want to pay them properly,” she said. “I also want them to look up from their phones when a customer comes in. Maybe we could meet in the middle. Pay rise when you look up.”

Parents in the city are also affected. “My son’s wages go straight on taxis home from Perth on a Saturday night,” said a Bridgend dad. “If the government cuts his pay, it’s not him that suffers, it’s Perth’s taxi drivers.”

The Treasury said no final decisions had been made. Perth’s teenagers said they would believe it when they saw it on a payslip, which they would then lose.

The real story: UK politics (BBC News)