living wage

Reeves also announced increases in the minimum and living wage, but Lyons said: "Costs are passed onto others."

However, the 20-year-old added: "It's good that it is going up slightly, but it should go up more. I don't think it is a living wage compared to the cost of living - it doesn't match."

Some in the business community will interpret this as possibly heralding another higher-than-inflation rise in the national living wage, which also tends to push up other salaries in a firm's wage structure.

Critics of capitalism call the market economy unfair, arguing that big corporations don’t pay low-income employees a living wage.

The national living wage is the minimum businesses must legally pay employees and is currently set by the government at £12.21.