Zero-hours Contracts

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Umunna]

That was exactly the point I was just about to make. Of course, insecurity at work lowers a person’s standard of living and makes managing their family commitments impossible. As my hon. Friend says, insecurity is bad for business because insecure, poorly paid workers are less committed and less productive. It is also bad for the public finances, because if people are not getting the hours or earning a decent wage, that means less income tax and national insurance going to the Exchequer and more being paid out in credits, so everybody loses out.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a constituent of mine on a zero-hours contract with the Co-operative group. Is the Co-operative group exploiting its workers?

[Mr Umunna]

I will come to that point very shortly.