The Mail on Sunday January 11 • 201522

SNP plan to force f irms to pay at least £7.65 an hourEVERY company in Scotland would be forced to pay at least £7.65 an hour to all staff under radical proposals by the SNP.

Plans have been launched to scrap the current minimum wage of £6.50 per hour and replace it with the higher ‘living wage’ set at £7.65.

The move is designed to help introduce ‘genuine pay equality’ north of the Border, but making it a statutory scheme could put pressure on many businesses and industry chiefs warn it could make some unviable, resulting in closures and job losses.

On Thursday John Mason, Nationalist MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, will table a Scottish parliament motion that the living wage be imposed on all businesses. The power to legislate on the minimum wage is reserved to Westminster but the SNP is campaigning for it to be devolved

to Scotland. The Scottish Government has already introduced the living wage for all public sector workers, funded by taxpayers.

Mr Mason’s motion states that the present minimum wage is ‘too low to counterbalance the ever-increasing cost of living’ and that as the living wage is voluntary, it does not benefit all workers.

‘The only way to ensure genuine pay equality is achieved would be to make the living wage a statutory scheme for all employers,’ he said.

Colin Borland, of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, said: ‘The living wage is something we all aspire to... but there are questions with affordability in some sectors.’

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By Michael Blackley SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

I can absolutely confirm to the House that the chapel will be preserved for future generations

HOW THE DEFENCE MINISTER WAS FORCED INTO U-TURNMONDAy 5 jANSUNDAy 4 jAN WEDNESDAy 7 jAN

MoS reveals Soubry’s funding cut Next day she tweets about a meeting PM reverses her policy at PMQs

Continued support to the chapel would be ‘inappropriate’ use of defence resources

Meeting today to settle the future of #BigginHill Chapel

MoS victory as Cameron steps in to save memorial to Battle of Britain acesBy Harry Yorke

OUTCRY: Our report last week on plan to close the chapel. Top: Anna Soubry

DaviD Cameron has vowed to save the chapel dedicated to heroic Battle of Britain pilots after a public outcry over its threatened closure.

The mail on Sunday revealed last week how St George’s Chapel of remembrance for ‘the Few’ faced the axe after Defence minister anna Soubry judged that its £50,000-a-year running costs were an ‘inap-propriate use of defence resources’.

But in a dramatic move last week, the Prime minister pledged to do ‘whatever it takes’ to save the chapel at Biggin Hill, Kent, after a furious backlash from mail on Sunday read-ers and campaigners.

Built on the site of the former raF station – which played a key role in the 1940 battle to repel Hitler’s Luft-waffe – the chapel has stood since 1951 as a memorial all the British airmen who died during the Second

World War. The local airport of Big-gin Hill offered to make up the fund-ing shortfall following our report, but mr Cameron’s announcement now means the ministry of Defence will maintain ownership and pro-vide public money for the site.

‘i can absolutely confirm to the

House that the chapel will be pre-served for future generations, as we have always recognised its impor-tance and its rich heritage,’ he said at Prime minister’s Questions.

He added: ‘i think it’s possible that of all the great moments in British history, the Battle of Britain stands

out as one of the most important times that there have been.

‘We will protect the chapel and will do all that we can to protect it for future generations.’

His intervention followed an online petition to save the church which gained more than 28,000 signatures. Campaigners also took to Twitter to express their anger at ms Soubry.

in an embarrassing turnaround last Sunday, ms Soubry retreated from her previous stance, telling one complainant: ‘it doesn’t mean the chapel must close. i’m working hard to save it.’

on monday she tweeted that there would be a meeting about the chap-el’s future, and a day later she met local Tory mP Jo Johnson, when she again expressed her support for its ‘continued preservation’.

The Prime minister’s announce-ment was welcomed by mr Johnson, who has championed the campaign to keep the historic monument open. He described the U-turn as a ‘tri-umph’ for the public.

‘We’re in a very good place and the security of the chapel is secured,’ he said. ‘it’s a great triumph to keep the chapel open, and one The mail on Sunday has played a huge part in.’

Tv presenter and local resident Jan Leeming was also pleased with the about-turn, but she criticised the moD for the ‘lack of thought’ shown in its initial decision.

‘i welcome mr Cameron’s promise and hope he keeps his word,’ she said. ‘apart from anything else, the chapel is iconic – a place of peace,

beauty and remembrance. although a modern building, it has an aura of spirituality usually associated with ancient churches.’

in a statement released on Thurs-day, Defence Secretary michael Fal-lon said: ‘We have been in discussions with Bromley Council for 18 months and we are pleased that the council wants to create a heritage centre on the site. Subject to agreeing suitable terms to secure the future of the chapel, the garden of remembrance and the car park, we will lease the site on a long-term basis to the coun-cil for a token rent.’

approved by Sir Winston Church-ill as a ‘permanent’ shrine to ‘the Few’ of the Second World War, St George’s was originally built to replace a military chapel destroyed by a fire in 1946. it is expected to welcome 25,000 visitors this year as it commemorates the 75th anniver-sary of the Battle of Britain.

The chapel was also threatened with closure in 1989, when the airfield was closed as an operational raF base, but it was later saved because of its historical significance.

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