PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice has stepped up his campaign to get the national minimum wage increased on April 1 by calling for a vote of his Labour MP colleagues.

The backbencher wants the £3.60 minimum increased by at least the rate of inflation. He has written to the Parliamentary Labour Party asking for a debate on the government's current refusal to increase the salary floor on its first anniversary. Already he has tackled Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers on the issue in the Commons and written to Tony Blair.

It will be the first such vote by the PLP in this parliament, despite the fact that such events were common in previous years. The leadership of the PLP has so far persuaded MPs that votes would be "divisive".

Mr Prentice said: "It is important that this crucial and popular policy keeps it value. I am certain that Labour MPs will vote for an increase in the minimum wage. I think there will be an overwhelming vote in favour of annual uprating. It would not be possible for the party leadership to ignore such a vote."

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