SL-Mark: Mmmmmmm...

"Firstly skills are purchased at a premium. If there was no reward for learning a skill, then there would be no differentiation and all would earn the same amount."

Not in the encouragement of people to become 'apprentices' or 'trainees'.. They still need a working wage. It's not about lack of want to do the job, but putting bread on the table. In a utopian world maybe all employers would be fair.. but we all know that is not always the case.

"By introducing the minimum wage you effectively reduce the differentiation and reward, hence providing less encouragement for a skilled labour force."

Not really. Unless it's the difference between a 1 star McD's worker and and 5 star McD's worker. Most skilled workers are going to earn a lot more than minimum wage, and from experience.. most really skilled workers are going to earn at least 10 times minimum.

"A liquid labour market is not encouraged by the minimum wage, but instead creates an illiquid market. It results in less movement of labour as again differentiation and free market forces"

.... It also gives incentive for more to get off JSA more quickly.

"“The lack of such a minimum wage is a tax on the income the government gets”
Duh, surely you can't be serious with this statement!?"

Yes. It's called subsidising businesses by the DWP and local councils paying benefits out to those on low wages.

"but to prevent the uprising occurring in the first place we will introduce a tax on labour through means of a minimum wage, hence avoiding the uprising, but we will keep the tax receipts any way and make our nation less competitive. There is a real cost here, the government has again reduced the competitiveness of business and again the business fails and unemployment increases. Simple economics."

lol.. Some businesses will never be able to keep up in a wage war with likes of India. That is an economic truth. As for competitiveness.. Is that (as in recent cases with building firms) before or after they fix the prices?.. Or like Intel, bribe retailers??

"For most businesses, labour costs are one the largest, if not the largest operating cost of a business. And more so because of labour taxes."

Nope.. It depends on the business. Computers and factory machines can cut labour costs by a great deal. But you'd know that from the likes of economic terms such as "labour intensive" and "non labour intensive".

Ebay.. nothing compared to some sites I know.