I’ve been out and about knocking doors in Penarth and across the constituency regularly, and one of the main issues people raise with me on the doorstep is their concern about inequality in our society – that is the enormous and widening gap between normal, everyday, working people, and those at the top of the wages pile.

Just last week, world leaders gathered in the Swiss ski resort of Davos to discuss inequality. While these discussions are welcome, a solution to the increasing problem is long overdue.

We need a reality check about inequality in Britain.

Since 2010, when this government came to power, average wages have fallen by £1,600 a year, with the number of people being paid less than the Living Wage rising from 3.4 million to 5.3 million.

Meanwhile last year, FTSE 100 directors’ rewards increased by 21 per cent, and their chief executives now earn on average 130 times more than their average employee – and 300 times more than the Living Wage. At the same time, the Tory/Lib-Dem government has cut taxes for people earning £150,000 or more a year.

A Labour government will raise the National Minimum Wage so that it gets closer to average earnings – rising to more than £8 before 2020. But it’s not just a case of a legal minimum that matters, and much more can be done to work with employers to pay the Living Wage (currently £7.85 an hour).

This isn’t about spare cash and luxury, but giving people who do some of the hardest jobs dignity when they go home from work, and an ability to provide for their families without falling into debt each month.

Our support for the Living Wage is about securing real improvement to people’s lives, and the next Labour government will, among other things:

• Introduce Make Work Pay contracts, with a tax rebate for employers that sign up to become Living Wage employers in the first year of the next Parliament.

• Require companies to publish the ratio of the pay of their top earner compared to the average employee and the pay packages of the 10 highest paid employees outside the boardroom.

• Put an employee representative on remuneration committees, ensuring the views of ordinary staff are heard when decisions to award top pay packages are made.

Tackling low pay and encouraging the Living Wage is one of the ways the next Labour government can ensure everyone’s hard work is rewarded and we build real and enduring prosperity.