Kill This Tory Bill

We launched Go Fourth with four aims back in September.

1. Proudly defend the record of the Labour government since 1997

2. Actively support the government in promoting policies that will build on our successes

3. Encourage greater participation in the Labour Party

4. Highlight the damage a Conservative government will do to Britain

We promised every Go Fourth member will have an equal say in the direction of the campaign through regular communication by email, Facebook and Go Fourth events.

And we meant it. Recently I received this message from Alex Ross.

"The reason I'm emailing is that I've got a Facebook group you may be interested in, supporting the Minimum Wage against a group of Tory backbenchers who are trying to get an opt-out put in, which would essentially fatally undermine it.

"I was wondering if you'd fancy doing a little blog/vlog on the issue as it strikes me as similar to the Dan Hannan/NHS nonsense.

"What we have is the real face of the Tory party revealing themselves, with David Cameron desperately trying to avoid mentioning it or bringing it to light.

"Just as with Dan Hannan, Cameron is not commenting on the matter at all as he doesn't have the backbone to stand up to his own party.

"So given the similarity of the two cases I hoped you'd do a blog, link to the group, encourage people to join and sign the petition."

The minimum wage helped lift millions of people out of poverty pay - two thirds of them women. It's one of our greatest and proudest achievements. And the Tories, led by William Hague, fought tooth and nail against its introduction in 1999. Just as they did with the NHS in 1945.

So Alex - I'm going to do more than just sign your petition. I'm launching an all out campaign to Kill This Tory Bill and expose the Tories for what they are - heartless hypocrites.

This is the 'change' Cameron is promising.

On May 15 the Employment Opportunities Bill has its second reading in the House of Commons.

Proposed by senior Tory Christoper Chope MP and 11 other Conservative MPs, it will allow firms to  opt out of the minimum wage of £5.73 an hour and pay what they like.

This will effectively scrap the minimum wage.

The second part of the bill will force all public sector organisations to advertise their job vacancies externally, so that - and I quote Chope here -  'those outside the 'magic circle would have the freedom to compete for jobs on an equal basis.'

But it seems Chope - who as one of Thatcher's ministers brought in the Poll Tax - has his own 'Magic Circle' - he employs his wife. I wonder if that public sector job was widely advertised?

He also has a paid second job as a director of a business services consultancy called Carclew Limited.

Same old hypocritical Tories!

Here are the Bill's supporters - Christopher Chope, Peter Bone, Philip Davies, Nigel Evans, Greg Knight, Edward Leigh, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Brian Binley, William Cash, Robert Syms and David Wilshire.

We'll be featuring each and every one until May 15th in a campaign to Kill This Tory Bill and show that behind the Cameron's mask of caring conservatism there lies die-hard neo cons who don't give a damn about our public services and workers rights - just like Daniel Hannan.

So let's send THEM a message.

You can read the Hansard of the First Reading the Bill here 

Sign Alex's petiton here

Join the Facebook group here

And find more about 10 years of our minimum wage here

Send this article onto your friends, change your Facebook status and let's Kill This Tory Bill

We only have 10 days to save the minimum wage. So let's get to it.

Here I am launching the campaign at Chesterfield Labour Party on Sunday.