A LABOUR government at British level will ban zero-hours contracts, the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner will tell Scottish TUC today.

Ms Rayner will address the Dundee conference following research showing the number employed on zero-hours contracts in Scotland has risen 50 per cent in the past decade — and by 10 per cent in the last year alone.

Labour criticised the Scottish National Party for having pledged robust action when the government it leads only advises against “inappropriate” use of zero-hours in its guidance for the award of public contracts.

Ms Rayner, who is also shadow secretary of state for the future of work, is expected to warn Congress that one in 10 young Scots is now on a zero-hours contract and accuse both the Conservatives and SNP of “failing to deliver the crackdown they promised.”

But delegates voted overwhelmingly for the devolution of employment law as Congress began yesterday, backing a composite motion on resisting the Westminster government’s assault on the right to strike.

Moving from the general council, Unison’s Tracey Dalling praised the “massive and magnificent fightback” by working people over the past year in the face of attacks on their living standards.

The Tory response was to seek to deprive people of the right to withdraw their labour, but the labour movement’s fightback needed to go beyond the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill and tackle all anti-union laws, including by allowing digital balloting for disputes.

RMT’s Mary Jane Herbison welcomed the Scottish government’s opposition to the “unfair, undemocratic and unworkable” Bill, but said it needed to seek urgent legal advice on how it could prevent implementation of the legislation on services it controls, such as Scotrail and Caledonian Sleeper trains.

The FBU’s Gus Sproul drew attention to the Fire Brigades Union’s call for an emergency congress of the TUC to look at building a mass campaign of non-co-operation and non-compliance with the law.

The STUC agreed to campaign for the Scottish government to explore all legal means to oppose the law’s application north of the border, to devolve employment law to Scotland and for Labour at British level to commit to repeal all anti-union laws within 12 months of election.