Job Insecurity

Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and Chuka Umunna

Wednesday 5th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Umunna]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I will move on to zero-hours contracts shortly.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

Is it not also the case that people on the minimum wage who are contracted for perhaps 16 or 20 hours a week are having to work more than that, with employers exploiting them in that way? That is a major problem, and their employment is very insecure.

[Mr Umunna]

That is right. Zero-hours contracts are perhaps most symptomatic of the increasing insecurity we are seeing in today’s workplace.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Umunna]

We know that there has been stagnation in wages. My hon. Friend has given the clearest evidence of the impact of that in his constituency. That relates to the points that I have made to Government Members. Of course it is a good thing that people who have not been in work are getting work. The key thing is that it must be decent work that prevents people from having to go to food banks because they are not earning enough.

[Mr Donohoe]

My hon. Friend is being most gracious in taking so many interventions. One group of people who have been almost forgotten are small shopkeepers, who are suffering immensely as a consequence of the state of this nation. They have not been mentioned, but they have very insecure futures. Surely we should address that, as well as the other matters that we are addressing this afternoon.

[Mr Umunna]

My hon. Friend is right. We are a nation of shopkeepers. That is why we want to cut business rates in 2015 and freeze them thereafter. We also want to provide more support for local communities and high streets. I am proud to have the longest continuous stretch of high street in the country in my constituency.