Iain Gray MSP and Martin Whitfield MP are backing a new five-point plan to eradicate working poverty which would help thousands of people in East Lothian.

The Scottish Labour plan includes raising the minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020, which would lift the salaries of around 7,000 workers in East Lothian.

The move is part of Scottish Labour’s ongoing summer campaign, For The Many.

The plan includes:

• Increasing the minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020
• Banning zero hour contracts
• Tackling the cost of living by scrapping the council tax
• Using Holyrood’s social security powers to increase the number of Scots receiving tax credits
• Investing in education so our people can compete for the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future.

Iain Gray MSP said:

“The levels of working poverty in Scotland are at their highest point since devolution. Scottish Labour will wage war on working poverty in East Lothian and across Scotland.

“There’s no excuse for Nicola Sturgeon not to use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to help deliver a plan that would eradicate working poverty in Scotland.
 
“Scotland needs a government to fight austerity, stand up for working people and ensure that work always pays.”

Martin Whitfield MP said:

“It’s simply disgraceful that in the twenty-first century a job isn’t enough to keep some people above the breadline.

“That’s why a UK Labour government would deliver a real living wage of £10 an hour by 2020 – and ban exploitative zero hour contracts.

“Those changes would benefit at least 7,000 people in East Lothian, helping to lift them and their families out of poverty.”