National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Lord Goddard of Stockport Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goddard of Stockport (LD)]

My Lords, I will be relatively brief. We do not regret the minimum wage going up. We support it. What we do regret is the lack of government support for hard-working families and businesses. I have some sympathy with the views of the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe of Epsom, on some of this. Clearly, increasing the minimum wage is always welcome as it takes 2.5 million people to another level. That should be encouraged; we should be able to do that.

We had some arguments in the employment Bill over months and months about the effects of some of the employment rights. Some of that is coming to fruition now. Unless businesses can grow, do more business and create, then there will be fewer businesses and fewer opportunities for those lower-paid people to get a job. That is the problem.

It is blindingly obvious to me that the Government need to make people’s money go further. The trick is to make the money go further and create more jobs and more opportunities. For instance, I think the Minister mentioned reducing energy bills. I think the Government put £58 million in for fuel oil customers, but really they should be capping the price, as there is no cap on fuel oil for domestics. I have evidence of people who were getting charged £200 now being charged up to £800, so the money the Government are putting in is scratching the surface for those people, who might be employing someone else—a low-paid worker. They might not be able to do that now.

The Government can go further by talking about the high streets. Why do they not cut the VAT on hospitality till 2027? Do something that encourages the economy and lets the high street employ more people. To diverge a little bit from the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, we should be going for growth with better deals with Europe. We should have closer ties with Europe and have more influence there. The NIC decision should be reversed. These measures would actually put more money in people’s pockets.

The increase in the minimum wage is welcome; it should be increased because it is the right thing to do. I have listened to trade union leaders over months, and I totally agree with that. It has taken too long to do and it is in the right direction, but you have to couple it up with how you stimulate the economy to employ those people. I think that is where the argument on the regret amendment is. I cannot support the amendment, but the Government need to be mindful that it is a two-edged sword.

There was an argument that the employment Bill was tilted a bit too much towards employment and employment laws. That is coming to fruition now, sadly. We need a better balance. We need to be reasonable and responsible—I think those were the words we used—because it goes hand in glove. It is almost as if the minimum wage goes up but the employers pay for it. This is not new money; it comes out of the entire pot of the economy. You really do not want to kill the golden goose laying the egg that pays for the minimum wage to go up. My concern is that we need to do more to put money in people’s pockets. That is how you stimulate growth and how you make the economy get stronger, not just by increasing the minimum wage and then putting tax after tax on people, making it disappear.