Tory leadership candidate says cafe in her constituency closed down because its owner could no longer afford to pay her staff
Kemi Badenoch has suggested that the minimum wage is harmful to British businesses.
The Tory leadership candidate signalled that the rules on minimum pay and maternity leave are “overburdening” firms, together with too much tax and regulation.
She claimed there was a cafe in her own constituency of North West Essex that had closed down because its owner could not afford to pay her staff the minimum wage or grant them leave to have children.
Mrs Badenoch, the former trade secretary, made the remarks at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Monday.
Speaking on the main stage, she said: “There’s a cafe in my constituency that closed down and the lady who owned it said: ‘I can’t afford to pay the wages any more. I can’t afford minimum wage. I can’t afford for my staff to go on maternity.’
“We are overburdening businesses. We are overburdening them with regulation, with tax. People aren’t starting businesses any more because they’re too scared.”
In the UK, firms have to pay the national living wage, currently set at £11.44 per hour, to employees aged 21 and over.
The national minimum wage is paid to younger staff, with rates of £8.60 per hour for those aged 18 to 20 and £6.40 for under-18s.
It is a criminal offence for employers to refuse to pay either the living or minimum wage.
It comes as Mrs Badenoch and her campaign team have continued to grapple with the aftermath of her suggestion that statutory maternity pay is “excessive”.
Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, she said that regulations around the benefit had “gone too far” and were tying businesses in too much red tape.
Asked whether it was set at the right level, she said: “Maternity pay varies depending on who you work for, but it is a function – where it’s statutory maternity pay – a function of tax.
“Tax comes from people who are working. We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.”
The comments were quickly rejected by other contenders, with Tom Tugendhat saying he wanted to see “strong maternity and paternity pay”.
Addressing the row on Monday, Mrs Badenoch compared her remarks with the often-repeated quote attributed to Margaret Thatcher that there is “no such thing as society”.
She said: “That very good explanation got cut down into a soundbite that was used to attack her.
“When you are a leader, when you are a Conservative, when you are making the argument for conservative principles, your opponents are going to try and turn it into something else.”
