Lib Dem peer Shirley Williams has a letter in today’s Times looking at the role of Democratic senator Edward Kennedy – and herself – in promoting a national minimum wage in the UK:
I knew Ted Kennedy well as the chairman of the Senior Advisory Committee of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government … In 1989 and 1990 I was acting director of the institute. … The Senator and his staff had done a good deal of research into the minimum wage, research that showed conclusively that in the US it had not damaged employment prospects. Indeed, the high propensity of low-paid workers to consume rather than save or invest their earnings tended to strengthen local economies in poor neighbourhoods.
In 1994, as chair of the Liberal Democrat employment policy group and armed with this knowledge, I campaigned at that year’s party conference for a minimum wage to become the party’s policy. The policy, albeit allowing for regional variations, was adopted by the conference, even though the entire parliamentary party and the leader, Paddy Ashdown, were opposed.
A year later, in 1995, the Labour Party Conference supported the setting up of a low-pay commission to recommend a national minimum wage to a future Labour government. The minimum wage became the Labour Government’s policy in 1997.
You can read the full letter here.
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3 Comments
1994 Conference was perhaps the last time that Conference really showed it’s muscles against the parliamentary party and working groups. Some people may remember that there was more fuss about the legalisation of cannabis (now official policy) and a debate on abolishing the monarchy (which we haven’t debated for a while – perhaps we should).
Alex Wilcock got all establishment after 1994 and stopped upsetting applecarts.
I was an inactive member at the time and had no idea about this.
Shirley was clearly proved right in hindsight.
We should defeat the leadership more often, we very nearly did on the Trident debate. Hindsight shows that those of us opposing the replacement of Trident were on the right side of the argument.
Is this a late obituary note about Sen Kennedy or an advanced (hopefully very) early self-obituary note for our Shirl?