BROWN ISOLATED AS EU MINISTERS NEGOTIATE TEMP AGENCY AND WORKING TIME RULES

12.00.00am GMT Tue 4th Dec 2007

EU Employment Ministers will meet tomorrow in Brussels to review Portuguese proposals aimed at solving the longstanding stalemate over controversial EU legislation on Working Time and a proposed directive to regulate Temporary Worker Agencies.

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne, Vice President of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee and shadow rapporteur for both directives for the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, commented today ahead of the summit:

"This will be a nail biting time for Gordon Brown - he has sought to keep the European Union out of the headlines, but with the UK looking increasingly isolated in the Council of Ministers there is a real possibility he will loose the battle against damaging EU plans to regulate temporary recruitment agencies and changes to existing rules on working time.

"The Government must stand firm. There is one thing Brown can't rely on, should any deal be reached and legislation returns to the European Parliament; the support of his own Labour MEPs."

Specifically on the Working Time Directive Liz Lynne commented:

"The individual opt out of the Working Time Directive must be protected; it is vital to the UK's flexibility and necessary because we do not have a tradition of collective agreements in the UK.

"Anyone whose work does not have a direct consequence on life and death decisions should have a free choice as to what hours they work, so long as this is truly voluntary."

On proposals to regulate Temporary Worker Agencies' Liz said:

"This proposed one-size-fits-all directive would be a nightmare for UK business and workers alike as it fails to recognise the wide range of different practices across the EU, from Greece, which only made temporary worker agencies legal in the past few years, to the UK and Netherlands where it has long been established practice."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

If an agreement is reached in the Council of Ministers on either of the reports under the co-decision procedure each report will return to Parliament for a second reading.

Britain has led a blocking minority in the Council of Ministers on both of these directives, but there are now doubts about the continued support of both Poland and Germany for the British position.