MORE than 10,000 people have backed Labour MP Richard Burgon’s call for furloughed workers to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

The Leeds East MP’s petition supports adding a minimum wage floor to the government’s coronavirus furlough scheme.

The government pays furloughed workers 80 per cent of their usual wage, but employers are not obliged to pay the other 20 per cent.

It means that many of the lowest-paid workers are living below the minimum wage while on furlough.

Official figures show that more than two million workers have been paid less than the minimum wage this year — five times more than in 2019.

Mr Burgon said: “I’m pleased that over 10,000 people have backed my campaign to fix this problem — but I’m frustrated that it has come to this.

“People don’t believe that the lowest-paid workers should be the ones bearing the cost of our response to this terrible virus.

“It’s called the minimum wage for a reason — the government needs to do the right thing and act to ensure nobody is paid less than it.”

The petition can be found here.