Bishop to live on minimum wage for Lent

A Church of England bishop is to lead a group of British people abandoning their comforts for Lent and living on the minimum wage.

The Bishop of Wolverhampton, the Right Rev Michael Bourke, along with his wife Liz, will be reducing their joint income by around a half for the 40 days of Lent.

They will be joined by 50 other people, including Inderjit Bhogal, the former President of the Methodist Church, and a minister in Sheffield, in the exercise organised by Church Action on Poverty.

The 60-year-old Bishop said there would be no meals out in his household - his two children are grown up - no pocket money, and no normal monthly savings for the Lenten period.

He said that the exercise was partly ‘‘artificial’’ as he would not have to pay rent and the deprivation would only last for six weeks.

‘‘I know that it is a struggle to live on the minimum wage. I am entirely in favour of the minimum wage, in that it is better than what we had before, but life is still a struggle,’’ he said.

‘‘The real issue is that there is no end to it unless you can get a better paid job. What happens when your cooker breaks down and what do you do about Christmas?

‘‘People get into debt. When my wife and I both said we would do it we started to argue about exactly what we would cut back on.

‘‘It is undoubtedly true that people who are hard up find more strains on their family relationships.’’

The Lenten exercise by CAP, an ecumenical group, is intended to highlight its campaign to raise the minimum wage from Stg£4.10 (€6.70) an hour for 22 years and over - due to go up to Stg£4.20 (€6.87) in October - to Stg£5.80 (€9.49) , or to Stg£6.30 (€10.31) in London.

Niall Cooper, national co-ordinator of CAP, said: ‘‘Although the minimum wage is a step forward, the rate it has been set at is very low and only allows a meagre existence. We want to see a living wage that will ensure life in all its fullness.’’