It’s the first Conservative budget in 23 years, but Chancellor George Osborne has introduced a policy that is bad for the most vulnerable workers, bad for entrepreneurs, and bad for the UK.

Studies have shown that minimum wages in fact reduce employment and slow jobs growth. The Government should leave such decisions to the Low Pay Commission – which was set up with these problems in mind.

If the Chancellor really wanted to help low paid workers, he should have cut Employers’ National Insurance, 70 per cent of which is paid for by the employees.

As Sam Bowman, Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said in response to the announcement:

“This move will condemn tens of thousands of people to long-term unemployment.. If the Office for Budget Responsibility’s estimates are to be believed, today the Chancellor will have put 60,000 people out of work.”

Read my Forbes article on the National Living Wage in full here.