Min wage should be lower up north to make it higher down south.

[Witchofwisteria]

Hear me out. Minimum wage should be given out on more of a regional basis. I think this would help spread the wealth and prevent poverty in such crushingly expensive places like London?

Example: If you live in Hull minimum wage should be £7ph but if you live in London it should be £15ph. Purely because you can rent a lush 3 bed house in Hull for £400-£600 pcm but in London (rougher areas and outskirts) it would be £1800+ at least.

Seems daft to keep increasing minimum wage nationwide when some areas can clearly get more for their money and therefore require less money to live a reasonable life and some require more! (London needs fast food staff, retail workers and cleaners too!) I think something similar with benefits should also happen but I don't know enough about the ins and outs of universal credit to think about the adjustments required.

Thoughts?

London isn’t just full of rich foreigners on Park Lane and oligarchs. It’s full of people who have to live there because it’s thror home, where they were born, where their family And friends live, thror support networks, their childrens’ lives And schools are. It’s their lives for fucks’ sake.

The answer isn't to raise the cost of houses still further in London or cut wages in the North. It's to reverse government policies which have driven up house prices until the poor are priced out.

The vast government subsidy of London doesn't benefit ordinary people in the long run- it only benefits the very wealthy.

PS I never disagreed that some areas of Hull area cheap, but plenty elsewhere aren't

Christ are all southerners such snowflakes

Why do some people have such an anti-south of England thing going on? Just doesn’t make sense? Can you explain why you have issues with southerners? I mean, not just calling us snowflakes, because that’s the level of snipe more suited to the mouth of a 10 year old.

Why do people always think the south is only London?

I’m two hours further south than London and it’s still way more expensive to rent or buy here than midlands or the north. It’s all very well saying move to Hull (no thanks) or “insert northern town here” if you want a cheap house. What if you can’t get a job in your career field in these places? What about all your friends, family, connections where you are now?

The north isn’t paved with gold

And my post, whilst paragraphed, put my paragraphs wherever, not necessarily in the order intended, hence a bit incoherent.

Huh?

Person A works up north for Joe Bloggs & Sons for NMW.

Person B works down south for John Smith Ltd for NMW.

Both separate businesses with no ownership ties nor dealings.

How exactly would the money removed from the wage packet of person A (or should I say 2 or 3 person As) by Joe Bloggs & Sons make its way into the wage packet of person B at John Smith & Associates.

The government don't pay the wages of workers at private companies. NMW wages are still wages, even if the amount it's set at is shit.
I think you are confusing wages and benefits here.

donquixotedelamancha

Of course. I never said otherwise.

I just don’t get why I’m the rest of the country people can live their lives where they choose but for Londoners, we’re expecting too much.

Perhaps moving jobs out of London to other regions would help so not everyone has to move to the south east for work.

Gill this northerner left everything behind to move down south - why is it so awful for other people to move?

My point was tongue in cheek but people move all the time - if you rent in London your housing allowance can be much greater than a renter in Stoke so constantly posting rental prices is moot really!

So if I’ve had to move to have the life that I’ve wanted why shouldn’t someone from London?

Some people will, but everyone can't/won't move. The key is to increase the factors that redirect jobs and investment out of London so that Kingstonians and Mancunians and Cornish don't need to move to London for opportunities.

Paddington well yes, that’s the other issue. It’s like no-one owns a map. Or can see beyond their own idyllic little town.

Why on earth should anyone be paid more just because you chose to live somewhere that is expensive to live?
How completely rediculous that those living north should be on minimum wage because our housing is cheaper. Get a grip

@ineedwine99

"Student let"

Where are you proposing to build your wall, just out of interest?

You are an idiot that doesn't understand economics.

ReflectionsofParadise

Completely disagree - I’ve moved between Manchester Sheffield and London and it’s a clear price difference. Cheapest pint I’ve ever seen in London is £4 compared to £1 on a Monday in weatherspoons in Manchester!

Regionalisation of pay further entrenches regional inequalities. Causing deprived areas to become poorer and wealthy areas richer. OP YABU.

Yy Gizzy.

@VintageFur

"It's a choice. Live in London vs. don't live in London. Nobody gets shot for carrying their possessions across the M25 - it's not a guarded border."

😂😂😂

Grilledaubergines

Indeed. Not disagreeing with you, just expanding. It's easy to forget 'oop North that it isn't Southerners, as some vague other, who constantly bleed investment from us. It's really a very small number of wealthy individuals who pay for these policies by donating to political parties.

Many in the South are as harmed by these policies as we are. The current trend is to focus on the harm policies do to 'oppressed' groups such as women, minority ethnicities and different regions.

Thing is, we all have something in common: we aren't wealthy, and we didn't go to public school. We are the majority. These people get wealthier from our work output.

[Wanders off humming 'the red flag' to himself and looking for a high horse to sit on]

what donquix says - I have noticed in my line of work that more UK Companies are locating their HQs and Offices outside of London.

Which is a good thing and I hope to see more Businesses do so - why pay loads in Office/Business Rents than you really need to.

Business sense really - GTFOOL - Get the fuck out of London.

What a silly idea! Men and Women being paid differently for doing the same job is an outrage and people living in the south Vs north being paid differently too would be an outrage and also discrimination. Manchester, Edinburgh etc Is just as expensive to live as Southampton or Portsmouth.

I'll just leave these here...

Wow, three reasonably priced properties in Hull totally proves your point, OP. I'm all for slashing wages in the north now! (I say three because there are no interior photos of the fourth, could be a complete shit pile inside.)

Where are you proposing to build your wall, just out of interest?

We're gonna build a wall and make the north pay for it! It's gonna be a bigly, 'uuuuge wall.

Rent is expensive in some northern cities as well. It was £650 a month for our crappy one bedroom flat in a dodgy part of Manchester. Even in fucking moss side now they’re advertising two bedroom homes at £1000 a month despite the fact that gang xcrime in the area is increasing.

Yes it doesn’t match London but that’s conparable to areas in the south east.

People have to live in London because it's 'where they were born,where their family and friends live, their support networks their children's lives'. 'It's their lives for fuck's sake'

Eh? London is full of people from every country of the world as well as from every corner of the UK.They've moved away from all the above because they could have a better life in London. If Southerner's think they can have a better life up North ...they can do the same. It's hardly moving to the other side of the world. Why is it ok for others to migrate for a better lifestyle sacrificing being near families but not ok for Londoners to do the same if they think it's better elsewhere (ffs)

Also the expenses thing. Are Gas and Electricity or car, house and life insurance cheaper in the north then...or kid's/adult's clothes ext ...because I haven't noticed in in M and S or Primark or where ever people shop.