FOR an ancient city known more for its medieval architecture, York leads in a surprising number of ways. Its universities produce world-class research, the National Science Learning Centre is based here, so too the UK’s largest railway museum. But above all York is home to one of the most important pressure groups in Europe.

For more than 100 years the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has campaigned for those without a voice and one of its missions is to identify the root causes of poverty and injustice, which is why it wants everyone in the country to earn a defined living wage.

The hourly rate has just risen to £7.85, which is more than the national minimum wage, and some employers argue they simply can’t afford to pay it. But, in another coup for York, Nestlé yesterday became the first major manufacturer to receive accreditation as a Living Wage employer in the UK.

This is excellent news and as Julia Unwin, chief executive at JRF says, it also makes economic sense because we will never achieve our full economic potential until we address the high levels of poverty across the country.

And York is showing how that can be achieved.