Amazon has raised its minimum wage for British and American workers, in a major milestone for campaigners pushing for pay increases to tackle rising levels of poverty and inequality. The company, which has become almost a byword for low-paid and low-quality work in recent years, said it would increase the minimum wage to $15 (£11.57) an hour in the US for more than 350,000 workers, while almost 40,000 staff in Britain will get an increase to £10.50 an hour in London and £9.50 across the rest of the country. Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of the e-commerce company, said: “We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead..Lifting the wage for its workers, designed to tackle the firm’s critics head on, means Amazon UK will pay more than the current national minimum wage of £7.83 for workers over the age of 25. The new rate is also higher than the level recommended by the Living Wage Foundation of £8.75, or £10.20 in London. The current minimum wage for UK Amazon workers is £8 an hour, meaning they will get a minimum increase in pay of 18%. The rise for London workers will be 28%. The current lowest wage paid to US workers is $11 an hour, meaning the minimum rate will rise by 36%.