EU Directive: Adequate Minimum Wages

Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages and the merits of introducing similar provision in the United Kingdom.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Leong) (Lab)]

My Lords, as with other relevant EU directives, the Department for Business and Trade is monitoring the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. As we are no longer an EU member state, we are not obliged to transpose its directives, but we note their progress. The UK has a long history of minimum wage legislation. Introduced in 1999, the national minimum wage has been a highly effective policy. We remain committed to improving living standards and, as of 2024 among G7 countries, the UK had the second-highest minimum wage relative to the average wages of full-time workers.

[Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that reply, and I welcome this Government’s determination to deepen relations with the EU and ensure that UK workers’ rights do not fall behind those of their EU friends. This new directive has been described as a game-changer in the fight against in-work poverty and as strengthening a social market economy, because it is about promoting collective bargaining. The evidence is clear that the bigger the collective bargaining, the more workplaces are safe, more equal, healthier and more productive. Given that EU member states will now be required, where collective bargaining coverage falls below 80%, to devise with social partners action plans to promote collective bargaining, will my noble friend agree to talk to Ministers about convening a meeting with the CBI and the TUC so that we can devise our own action plan here in the UK?