Workers on the minimum wage fall into not one but many categories, for example, those studying part time, people nearing pension age who need to supplement their income, Those who are qualified but in a subject with few opportunities, those with little or no qualifications and so on, within each of these groups you will have good workers and bad, some who are grateful for having a job and others who are not. Likewise there are good employers and bad, some reward good workers, others exploit their commitment.

Suggestions that there is some kind of definite correlation between ability and earning power is utter nonsense. Yes there are the high acheivers who go to Oxbridge and who though well coached talent coupled with the right University and driven from birth, yes they usually succeed but there are thousands of highly willing, able and potentially high earners who cannot find their way into lucrative work.

The Market system relies on a large cheap workforce to generate wealth for a small elite. Just look at how wide the gap has grown between rich nation and poor.

Providing Tax credits and other benefits simply underpins a pay structure which has no relationship to the cost of living and particuarly housing which with rent support and council tax benefit keep home ownership out of the reach for millions of good hardworking people.

We might think we are better off and to a degree we are in a material sense but that flat screen HD Tv is constructed in another economy paying much much less than we do.

I support a basic living wage and an incentivised workforce whereby those who perform at a higher level can earn more and those who don't want to graft all day accept a lesser wage. Opportunity for all should be our aim.