Increase in the minimum wage to give pay rise to millions but Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Treasury Ministers in hot water over pre-Budget leaks

The promise that the National Living Wage will increase by almost 60 pence from £8.91 an hour to £9.50 is just one of more than a dozen announcements that have made their way to journalists ahead of the Autumn Spending Review and Budget on Wednesday.

An enraged Leader of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle suggested that ministers who brief reporters should consider their position, telling MPs yesterday afternoon that “At one time, ministers did the right thing if they briefed before a Budget - they walked!”

He added: “Yes absolutely, resign. It seems to me we’ve got ourselves in a position that if you’ve not got it out five days before it’s not worth putting out.

“Members are elected to this House to represent their constituents, those constituents quite rightly expect the MP to hear it first in order to be able to listen to what the Budget is about, but also for the days following that to be able to hold them to account.”

Following the rebuke, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We will always seek to ensure arrangements are made so Parliament is informed and that we reach the public at the same time.”

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Sir Lindsay has repeatedly expressed his frustration at Boris Johnson’s administration for not giving details to MPs in the Commons first and says he will continue to force ministers to come to the chamber and answer questions on the leaked matters.

The news that pay packets will be boosted for all over 23-year-olds from April 1 next year will mean an annual pay rise of more than £1,000 for a worker on full time hours. For those aged 21 and 22, the minimum wage will rise from £8.36 an hour to £9.18.

There are concerns on one side about whether the increase in wages will be enough to support families with the quickly increasing cost of living, but on the other, as to whether small businesses hit hard by the pandemic will be able to afford the increase in their outgoings at a time when they are already “under the cosh”.

Federation of Small Businesses national chair Mike Cherry called for increases to be “matched by support for those who will struggle to afford to maintain jobs”.

He said in a statement: “Without an increase in the Employment Allowance, the combination in April of higher wage bills and higher tax bills will see many more than the forecast of 50,000 people added to unemployment queues.

“After pre-briefed announcements to help the banks with their tax bills, and to help international companies to invest here, there needs to be a clear offer from this Government to small businesses, too.

“Across the board, costs for small businesses are on rise, from energy bills, input and recruitment costs as well as taxes and shipping – small firms are well and truly under the cosh.”