TUC picks opportune moment to call for rise in minimum wage

Analysis: 15 an hour is logical next step' amid cost of living crisis but neither Labour or Tories likely to back campaign

Minimum wage should be increased to 15 an hour as soon as possible, says TUC

The TUC has chosen its moment well. With Britain gripped by a cost of living crisis, the umbrella body for trade unions has called for the minimum wage to be raised from 9.50 to 15 an hour as soon as possible, and by 2030 at the latest.

It is an ambitious target, as the TUC openly accepts. The minimum wage is now 64% of median earnings. A 15-an-hour minimum wage by 2030 would be 75% of median earnings, the highest of any of the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development group of rich countries.