Healey Signals Delay to Equal Minimum Wage for Under-21s, Raising Labour Promise Doubts

In a BBC interview due to be broadcast on Sunday, the Chancellor, John Healey, was asked a plain question: will workers aged 18 to 20 be paid the same minimum wage as everyone else by the time of the next election? His answer was not a yes. "We'll take one step at a time," he said, a phrase that suggests Labour may let its own promise slide past the election.

The promise dates to 2024, when Labour pledged to remove what it called discriminatory age bands. The party said it would end the gap between the adult minimum wage and the lower rate paid to 18 to 20-year-olds.

Last week's Budget did not close that gap. Healey said younger workers would receive the same increase as older ones, which leaves the two rates apart this year. In 2026, 18 to 20-year-olds will be paid a minimum of £11.27 an hour, while those over 20 will receive at least £13.21.

Healey did not drop the goal in the interview. He said Labour remains committed to it, and that the only open matter is timing. "There is no question about whether or if, it's a question of when - it's a question of how fast," he said. He tied the pace partly to the aim of encouraging businesses to employ younger people, and said he wants to look hard at the trade-offs between jobs and wages.

He also framed the issue as one of bringing people along. He said he wants to take business and trade unions with him and the government, because together they must tackle what he called a moral shame on the nation: a million youngsters written off, without any prospect of being helped into work and contributing to the country's future.

The shift is likely to anger the unions and some on the left of the party, who will read a slower timetable as a retreat from a manifesto commitment.

The interview also covered public spending. Healey suggested he is willing to make potentially big cuts in some areas to get the country's debt falling. The Budget documents set out real-terms reductions for some government departments in the years ahead. This week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the respected independent analyst, questioned whether the government would actually follow through on them.

Asked whether he would make big cuts, Healey said the government has already shown it is prepared to take hard decisions about its priorities. Pressed on whether that meant cuts of more than 2% a year for some departments, he said the approach would be carried through to the 10-year plan and next year's spending review. He added that the Budget also set out the work under way to prepare for those spending review decisions.

The spending review next year will be the next test, showing how far the planned cuts go and whether the timetable for equalising youth pay firms up or slips further. Until then, unions and Labour's left are likely to press the point.