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Well the minimum per hour figure sets a base level but unless this is set for each business and level within it, it can still lead to a situation where the wages and benefits are eroded for a particular job.
There is already a minimum wage but that allows a £12/hour job to become a £7.50/hour job. If you're coming from a country where the economy is in worse shape than ours then that's a decent deal, if you're used to being paid £12/hour then it's not.
The argument of course is that the market dictates what wages can be paid but pushing wages lower and lower because the market has a surplus of imported workers who are willing to accept a lower paid job doesn't seem an ideal scenario.
aggi
Strong, sensible rules protecting the rights of workers and setting a minimum per-hour figure would do so, unless I'm missing your point?
i.e. if you have to pay everyone the same, regardless of country of origin, then yes - there's a motivation for those nationalities whose economies are in worse shape than ours to come to apply for jobs, but there's no motivation for employers to favour a foreign national over a UK national.
That doesn't get round the issue of UK nationals simply not wanting those jobs, of course.