ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to link together the introduction of a national minimum wage in the United Kingdom, and its anticipated and forecast impact, with three key labour market concepts that are at the heart of the pan-European policy debate about the role of the state in regulating the labour market and intervening in the economy: labour market flexibility, active labour market policies and social exclusion. It starts by discussing the tradition of minimum wage legislation in the UK from 1909 onwards and considers the establishment of the Wages Councils, and their more recent abolition. In July 1997 the incoming Labour Party government established the Low Pay Commission, charged with making recommendations on a National Minimum Wage. The chapter discusses its report and the later legislation implementing government plans. It ends by discussing the links between labour market rewards, welfare benefits and social exclusion.
