Chope, supported by 11 of his colleagues, will seek to get a second reading for his ironically-entitled Employment Opportunities Bill. Here’s the key part of it:

That’s right, the Bill would give workers the right to “opt out” of the minimum wage. In other words, the Bill would abolish the minimum wage, and make it voluntary.

Now, you’ll be relieved to hear that it has no chance of getting a second reading, even without my presence, because there will be plenty of Labour MPs there to stop it. But it’s a sobering thought. “Support” for the minimum wage, like “support” for membership of the EU, is one of theose policies that has been swallowed by a reluctant Tory Party desperate to convince the voters that it’s changed, that it’s ditched its extremism.

It hasn’t. It no more supports the minimum wage now than it did before the 1997 election. And if the only reason Chope’s Bill will fall is because Labour has more MPs than any other party, how safe would the minimum wage be if the Tories were in the majority?

Visit the site of Wage Concern, the campaign against the Employment Opportunities Bill, by clicking here.