Trouble at mill for ex-city MP (From Daily Echo)
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Trouble at mill for ex-city MP
8:10am Saturday 14th February 2009 in
A FORMER Southampton MP has been likened to a “19th-century mill owner” for calling for the abolition of the national minimum wage.
Tory, Christopher Chope, who represented Southampton Itchen from 1983 to 1992, when he was ousted by Labour’s John Denham, said that “freely consenting adults” should be able to choose to take jobs that paid less than the £5.73 per hour legal minimum.
Mr Chope, who now represents the Dorset constituency of Christchurch, told the House of Commons that allowing bosses to slash workers’ wages would save small businesses by reducing overheads in the retail and hospitality sectors, where firms were “going down like ninepins”.
Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test, said it was “sad” to hear a former city MP proposing such action: “It was like hearing a 19th-century mill owner telling us why child labour was such a good thing for family budgets,” he added. “The minimum wage has protected and helped millions. Not many people remember now that it was people like Chris Chope who said at the time it came in that it would be the ruin of the economy. It wasn’t then and isn’t now.
“It is very sad to hear these arguments rerun and very worrying when a senior Conservative puts them forward as possible future policy.”
Comments(14)
thedeerhunter270
says...
8:59am Sat 14 Feb 09
Dazzz
says...
9:05am Sat 14 Feb 09
damien thorn
says...
9:47am Sat 14 Feb 09
10 Minute Man
says...
9:59am Sat 14 Feb 09
I'm *guessing* he might own a business which would love to get its hands on lots of unskilled chumps and force them to work for peanuts his pockets rather than pay them properly and share the benefits of success with someone else. Just speculating though, he may be a jolly nice chap
fatboy
says...
10:08am Sat 14 Feb 09
The bloke who did this did'nt want to be disturbed and Chope could'nt quite understand this. Thats why he soon left Southampton.
Luckily for Chope the governmewnt are still letting a ready supply of willing workers through our borders every day. just because you hear less about Calais etc does not mean its not still happening.
chip eater
says...
10:12am Sat 14 Feb 09
mr.southampton
says...
10:28am Sat 14 Feb 09
I'm sure plenty of people remember what he did to one of the most beautiful local landscapes at Twyford Down too.
the real mr x
says...
1:15pm Sat 14 Feb 09
Yet another MP who doesn't live in the real world.
spyke
says...
3:01pm Sat 14 Feb 09
Iw61
says...
3:50pm Sat 14 Feb 09
What a twit.
By the way, the minimum wage is too low as it is. Realistically it should be around £7.50 ph.
BillyTheKid
says...
4:28pm Sat 14 Feb 09
Condor Man
says...
8:02pm Sat 14 Feb 09
Had the cost of living not shot up under Labour- as a result of taxation (fuel, energy and council tax virtually doubling in price) then people working in Tesco's etc could afford to work for less. Now, because of the rise in living costs, only Poles living 12 to a house can afford to take them - and even then they aren't because the pound is worth so little.
Whitehead is hardly one to critise Chope, he's a typical champagne socialist who (like Denham) never did a days work during his council days apart from the odd lecture at the old Institute. At least Chope was a barrister who paid his way.
10 Minute Man
says...
10:57pm Sat 14 Feb 09
The idea that all these businesses are just *itching* to drop prices if it weren't for this pesky £3/hr extra they are paying is naive and foolish. The likes of Tesco could quite easily reduce the billions of profit they make each year if they wanted to. But they don't need to because the shoppers keep coming and they are making more money than ever. So has the minimum wage hurt them? No, clearly not.
Millbrook Dave
says...
3:11pm Sun 15 Feb 09
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