Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, has pledged to provide a living wage to millions of Britons if his Labour party receives the electoral mandate to govern the UK in the 2015 general election. The living wage is the minimum rate deemed to be essential for an acceptable quality of living.

In order to combat a ‘living standards crisis’, Ed Miliband desires that the employees be paid more than their minimum wages.

The living wage rates were heightened on Monday to £7.45 for outside London and to £8.55 inside London. These rates are majorly higher than the minimum wage, which presently stands at £6.19 per hour for over 21-year-olds, and even lesser for teenagers.

The Labour leader desires to make the new ‘living wage’ terms the norm. One way considered by him to make this happen is identifying and embarrassing listed companies, who fail to abide by the new ‘living wage’ terms.

Another way pondered by Ed Miliband, in intimate consultation with David Miliband, is that firms, who fail to pay an adequate living wage, could be prevented from receiving Whitehall contracts. Treasury-funded incentives could be given to companies that remunerate employees better.

Mayor Boris Johnson has said he desires that the living wage rate remain voluntary as some employers would find it vexing to pay the amount. He, nonetheless, proclaimed the new rate for London and urged local authorities across London to pay the rate.

Ed Miliband has remarked that Britain can’t grow in the future if it has an economy that benefits only a few wealthy people at the top. The companies, which are functioning hard to enrich themselves and to strengthen the UK economy, need to share their rewards fairly with their employees. Miliband tried to attract the support of the masses by remarking that only a Labour government would resolve the ‘living standards crisis’ encountered by many.

Ed Miliband voiced that Labour councils have been driving the ‘living wage’ agenda forward. Numerous British businesses have apparently uttered to him that living wage makes sense as it trims employee absence rates and enables the retention of the staffers.

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