living 40 hours + and having to live paycheck to paycheck suggests they are living far beyond their means, had too many kids or are just irresponsible people tbh

That's entirely subjective, it may well be true for some people but from my experience growing up in cornwall where the rental prices are sky high and the wages are low I'm stating that's simply not the case for everyone. My sister is in the exact same situation she was in even before I left and she's retrained and worked hard.

Take that same person (Me) and drop them in a country where I don't even speak the language and I had enough disposable income to take language courses and get qualified in many other personal interests.

Also I'm not saying eat the rich, people from the middle class get awfully defensive when they hear the less wealthy talking about income inequality, when in actual fact raising the minimum wage doesn't affect them what-so-ever unless they own their own business and have to directly pay their employees more.

Or you know, keep income as they are and put rental caps on properties based on Sq Ft.

I'm telling you outright, in comparison to the countries I have personally lived in. Britains lowest earners are massively ripped off when speaking comparatively.

No cigs no alcohol, because those "big ticket" items should be reserved for the middle and upper classes? Raising the minimum wage similar to what is currently happening in the states isn't slight against people who have worked hard and gotten into a comfortable position, it's bringing the lowest earners who work 40 hours a week to have more disposable income which is proven to benefit the economy.