LABOUR’s national policy forum (NPF) members will be urged to back a major rise to the minimum wage and scrap the two-child benefits cap over this weekend’s meeting.

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) has called for the party to “end in-work poverty” with an increase to £15 per hour amid below-inflation pay rises and the cost-of-living crisis.

The union’s president Ian Hodson said Sir Keir Starmer’s nickname “Sir Kid Starver” could stick after he ruled out free school meals and kept the Tory two-child benefits cap.

BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley added: “In-work poverty must end and a Labour government must end it by introducing a £15-an-hour minimum wage, tackling insecurity in the workplace and strengthening trade union rights.

 “If it doesn’t and has no plan to, then people will understandably question the point of the Labour Party. 

“The clue is in the name: if you want to be called the Labour Party then you must be the party of labour — in deeds, not just words.”

The retail trade union Usdaw also backed the rise as it revealed a staggering 81.5 per cent of its members felt worse off now than they did 12 months ago. 

It said the minimum wage should be brought up to £12 per hour “as a step towards £15 for all workers.”

Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “It should be a matter of shame for ministers that over eight in 10 of our members feel worse off than last year.

“These are mainly key workers in the retail grocery industry who keep the nation fed, but are struggling to put food on their own table.”

Grassroots left-wing group Momentum has vowed its representatives will be “forcefully arguing for pro-worker policies like a £15-per-hour minimum wage.”

A Momentum spokesman said: “The Tories have left this country on its knees, with millions struggling to make ends meet.

“To fix this Tory mess, Labour needs to commit to the New Deal for Working People, in its entirety. 

“These policies aren’t just vital and urgent, they’re popular too. Momentum-backed NPF reps will be arguing for them forcefully, alongside other transformative policies like free school meals, this weekend.”

The NPF’s meeting in Nottingham comes nearly a year after the TUC set out a roadmap to a £15-per-hour minimum wage and a high-wage economy.