Labour's Folly With The Minimum Wage Would Backfire Badly.

Cecil Crinnion, Sycamore Close, Slingsby, York.

IN reply to Martin Flanagan (The Yorkshire Post, May 30), I am well aware that, at present, 16-year-olds cannot vote in a general election. The Labour Party has tried and failed to lower the voting age to 16, with the move being blocked by Parliament.

The reason why Labour wants the voting age lowered is because it would be to its advantage, as young people see what the Labour Party promises – free university tuition, nationalised utilities and transport profits paid back to the people.

In paying 16-year-olds the full minimum wage, there will be several unintended consequences. It will promote a live-for-today attitude. Young people who have ambition will be pressured into taking unskilled work to help family finances, damaging their future prospects.

Most importantly, employers will obviously prefer to employ older personnel at the same cost (note the high youth unemployment in Europe). So, far from protecting workers’ rights, it will in time have the opposite effect. Yorks Post.