Chancellor John Healey has declined to confirm that younger workers will be paid the same minimum wage as older workers by the next election, raising questions about Labour's manifesto pledge to remove what it called discriminatory age bands. In an interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Healey said the government would "take it one step at a time" and stressed the trade-offs between jobs and wages.

Labour promised in 2024 to close the gap between the adult rate and pay for 18 to 20-year-olds. At the Budget on 28 October, however, both rates rose by the same 3.9%: the adult National Living Wage rises to £13.21 an hour from April 2027, while the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds rises to £11.27. That leaves a gap of £1.94 an hour, and unions had already warned that equalisation might be delayed.

Why the timing matters

Asked whether the manifesto commitment might be broken, Healey replied: "There's no question about whether or if. It's a question of when. It's a question of how fast." He said he wanted to take businesses and trade unions with him, and pointed to around a million young people he described as written off without prospects of work. Nothing in the interview changes the April 2027 rates themselves; the open question is only how quickly, and by which steps, the youth rate catches up with the adult rate.