ONLY a handful of firms in London have responded to a “lacklustre” campaign by the capital’s mayor to encourage employers to pay the Living Wage, Labour said yesterday.

The party said that of 51 businesses contacted by Boris Johnson earlier this year, only 19 had replied — with 10 saying they would look into paying the rate and three signing up.

Labour’s London Assembly economic spokeswoman Fiona Twycross said there was a “wide chasm” between what the mayor was saying and the reality of poverty pay in the capital.

She added: “Low-paid Londoners need far more than the mayor’s lacklustre letter-writing campaign to break the cycle of poverty pay.”