BOLTON MP David Crausby slammed Tory opposition to a national minimum wage by claiming their next General Election slogan will be "Vote Tory and return to poverty pay".

He was hitting out in the Commons at the Conservatives' attempt to talk out the legislation during an-all night sitting.

The Bolton North East MP asked the Prime Minister at Question Time to "welcome the fact that Britain will soon have, for the first time in our history, a national minimum wage that will protect our people from the low wages that create poverty".

And he asked: "Do you relish the prospect of fighting the next General Election against an out-of-touch Conservative Party that will no doubt campaign on the slogan "Vote Tory and return to poverty pay"?"

Mr Blair, heckled by opposition members to state at what level the minimum wage will be set, said the Tories would not want anyone connected with them to work for poverty pay, but were opposed to essential fairness at the workplace. He told Mr Crausby: "We need a minimum wage to save the £3.5billion benefits bill that is subsidising low pay and because a proper minimum wage is an essential basis of a decent civilised society - but then those are values the Conservatives would not understand."

Earlier, Mr Blair agreed with Bolton West MP Ruth Kelly that the dramatic fall in Government borrowing since the election was a clear example of the benefits of Labour's stable economic management which had ended the 'boom and burst'.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.