RED ED’S ZERO HOURS HYPOCRISY
Miliband vows to abolish zero-hours contracts – forgetting Labour MPs and councils use them for thousands of staff
ED MILIBAND was accused of hypocrisy last night after Labour town halls and MPs were revealed to be hiring thousands of workers on zero-hours contracts. The Labour leader yesterday vowed to end casual employment contracts that ‘undermine living standards and family life’.
But his crackdown, which was intended to regain the political initiative after boosts for the Tories on jobs and incomes, backfired spectacularly. In a disastrous day for Labour’s General Election hopes:
68 of the party’s MPs were revealed to have employed staff on zero-hours contracts over the past two years;
22,000 more of the contracts were handed out by Labour-run councils, including Doncaster where Mr Miliband is standing for MP;
Employers and legal experts said his crackdown would cost scores of jobs;
Statisticians accused Labour of using ‘unjustified’ propaganda;
17 more business leaders came forward to sign a letter supporting the Tories in May’s election – taking the total to 120.
Speaking in Huddersfield, Mr Miliband said a Labour government would legislate to require employers to offer a contract to anyone who had been working regular hours for 12 weeks.
He made a stinging attack on both David Cameron and firms that use ‘exploitative’ contracts which fail to guarantee minimum hours of work.
‘The Conservatives believe by looking after a few big firms and individuals at the top, everyone else will be OK,’ said Mr Miliband. But, far from being the preserve of business, the contracts are
being routinely used by charities, the public sector and the Labour P arty itself. Freedom of information requests circulated by the Conservatives reveal that Labour councils are behind 21,798 zero-hours contracts.
In December last year, the director of finance at Doncaster Council admitted to still having 300 relief workers on their books. Among the worst authorities are Wolverhampton, which had 738 staff on zero-hours contracts as of May 2014; Liverpool with 442 as of Septem - ber 2014; and Ealing with 278 as of January 2015.
In an even greater embarrassment, it emerged that 68 Labour MPs had also signed up researchers and other staff on the deals over the past two years.
They included shadow health secre - tary Andy Burnham, shadow chancel - lor Ed Balls, Mr Miliband’s parliamen - tary bag carrier K aren Buck and his election supremo Lucy Powell.
The Labour politicians said they had been told by the P arliamentary expenses watchdog to use the con - tracts in order to pay a living wage.
Tory chairman Grant Shapps said: ‘It’s the same old hypocrisy from Ed Miliband. On the day he generates a load of hot air about zero -hours contracts it emerges that his party is one of the most prolific users of them.
‘It’s chaos in the Labour P arty that would cause chaos for the country . Ed Miliband’s not up to the job because he says one thing and does another . If you can’t trust him on the basics you can ’t trust him to lead the country.’
Conservative candidate Charlie Elphicke added: ‘This is total hypoc - risy from Ed Miliband. Labour did nothing about zero -hours contracts during its 13 years in power , and now we learn that Labour MPs and councils use them routinely.’
The spotlight was also turned on a number of claims made by Mr Miliband yesterday – whose speech worsened already bad relations with big business. His suggestion that Britain has an ‘epidemic’ of zero hours con - tracts was rubbished by official statistics from the ONS.
The ONS had explicitly warned the 697,000 people who reported having a zero -hours contract between October and December 2014 should not be compared with the 586,000 in the previous year.
The UK’s official statistician said: ‘It is not possible to say how much of this increase is due to greater recognition of the term zero -hours contracts rather than new contracts.’
However, Mr Miliband still made the claim the centre - piece of his headline grabbing announcement yesterday.
The organisation F ull Fact said the Labour leader’s claims were unjustified.
The T ories say they have tightened the law to end abuse of zero -hours. Employers can no longer insist on ‘exclusivity’ deals that ban staff from working for other firms.