IT WAS good to see Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, promoting a living wage of £7.45 an hour (The Press, November 5).

She is supported on this by Ed Miliband and even Boris Johnson.

Raising wages to £7.45 in one go might be too optimistic. How about a rise of ten per cent for lower-paid workers, up to those being paid £4 for a 37-hour week?

Those on £4 and over up to an annual wage of £35,000 a year could have a five per cent rise.

Those on more than £35,000 a year and up to £100,000 could be given a three per cent rise.

For those over £100,000 no increase in wages or bonuses as this group has been getting double-digit rises for years.

If this were to happen for a year or so, some purchasing power might be restored to those at the lower end of the wage spectrum.

All this is highly unlikely as we will probably continue the opposite of what I have suggested – next to no rise for low earners, big rises for high earners. So the collapse of this country will continue from the bottom upwards.

It’s a good idea to promote a living wage, but will it ever happen?

Chris Mangham, Lindsey Avenue, Acomb, York.