Tories dismiss PM’s budget ‘everyday fixes’ as little more than ‘cheaper gherkins’, and ‘an insult to families’ – UK politics live

Removing tariffs on more than 100 products, including gherkins and baked beans, was one of five measures announced this morning before tomorrow’s budget Jonathan Reynolds , the business secretary, has not contested reports saying that, in the budget tomorrow, John Healey, the chancellor, will pause the process of equalising the lower national minimum wage paid to people under the age of 21 with the more generous national living wage that applies to older workers. In an interview on the BBC this morning, Reynolds was asked to respond to a story suggesting the equalisation process has been put on hold because of concerns about youth unemployment.

John Healey will announce plans to increase the minimum wage by nearly 4% but slow the rise for young people after warnings that they are being priced out of jobs. The Times has been told that the national living wage, which applies to those aged 21 and over, is expected to rise from £12. 71 to around £13. 20 – an increase of 3. 9%. The manifesto pledge on equalisation still applies, but it was always clear it would happen over time and we would take into account, as the minimum wage uprating each year always does, the relative strength of the labour market and other pressures … Of course, you want not just good wages, but good work. And the way this has always been done – it is a balance of making sure the pressures on the labour market are taken into account. That is the approach you will see confirmed [in the budget]. Anyone doing a day’s work, needs to be paid the same…