INSECURE work in this country goes right to the heart of our broken economy. Uncertainty over hours, how much you will get paid in a given month and whether you will even have a job in the near future plays havoc with people’s lives. Whether it’s the scandal of agency work, zero or short-hours contracts or bogus self-employment, all the pressure is on the worker and never the boss.

GMB and our sister unions see the human toll on our members and their workmates. It causes stress and ill-health, eats into people’s family life and time with friends as well as causing in-work poverty. It cuts deepest with those most disadvantaged by our unfair labour market — women, black and minority ethnic workers, disabled workers and the youngest and oldest workers.

I often hear Tory ministers paying lip service to mental health and their so-called ‘commitment to parity of esteem’ with physical health. It is bad enough that the Tories are denying the NHS the funding it needs, but they never look at some of the biggest causes of mental ill-health — what happens in the world of work.