People round here work hard. The wealth of our nation was built on work from people like us. 

Yet we’re still being pushed behind by a government that cares little for areas outside of London and the South East. There’s been no meaningful investment round here for decades.

Now we’ve found out that 3 in 10 workers across our area are paid less than the Real Living Wage. The Living Wage is calculated as enough to live on, and is above the national minimum wage.

It’s not right. People work hard, but many big firms pay people too little, even though they could afford to pay them more. And without the investment that makes business more productive, small firms can’t pay people a living wage, even if they wanted to.

The Government has to put this right as soon as possible. We need more investment now.