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In 1796 Samuel Whitbread, the then Whig MP for Bedford, brought to parliament a wage regulation bill. The bill would have fixed wages at the bottom of the labour market to ensure they kept up with the costs of living. For short, he was seeking to introduce Britain’s first Living Wage.
The bill’s defeat without division in February of that year gave rise to a system under which the state, rather than employers, shouldered much of the responsibility for protecting and advancing the living standards of Britain’s lowest paid workers.
