The introduction of a living wage for London is needed to prevent hard working families from slipping into poverty and to address the growing inequalities that are damaging our society

With the new leader of the Labour party making it a core tenet of his policy package, and with support across the political and business spectrum, the momentum behind the living wage campaign is growing. Paul Rainford argues that, in these times of austerity, it is an economic and moral imperative to make work pay in order to prevent hard working families from slipping into poverty and to address the growing inequalities that are damaging our society.