Since April last year under 25s like me, on minimum wage jobs, began to earn less per hour than our older colleagues; even those who were doing exactly the same role. On 1st April this year the difference between the Government’s minimum rate for those over 25 years of age and those younger than 25 nearly doubled, to 45p an hour.

This means that if I work around 25 hours a week I’ll be around £600 a year worse off than many of my colleagues working the same hours.

I have seen no convincing reason that the Government’s National Living Wage should only apply to over 25s. People of my age still face many of the same costs for food and rent while many of us are in large amounts of debt after the Conservatives decided we should pay £9000 a year for a university education.

It is the ultimate insult that the Government have tried to justify these changes by saying that younger workers aren’t as productive and are less experienced. Like many young people I've worked in bars since I was 18 and I'm as hardworking as any of my colleagues.

Despite the campaigning of unions and MPs such as Holly Lynch, who has led a debate in Parliament on this issue, the Government have refused to listen.

This petition is demanding a simple change so that workers under 25 are no longer excluded from the National Living Wage.