Miliband plans zero-hours crackdown must visit

Ed Miliband will detail plans to tackle the "epidemic" of zero-hours contracts in a speech in Scotland later.

The Labour leader will say workers with irregular shifts and pay should have rights, including a contract with fixed hours, if they work regularly for the same employer for a year.

Tackling the issue would be "harder" in an independent Scotland, he will say.

The Tories said the number of zero-hours contracts went up under Labour and they did nothing about it.

A government spokesman said it was analysing research on zero-hours contracts and would "respond in due course".

Zero-hours contracts allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work, only paying them for whatever hours they work.

'Evidence of abuse'

Speaking in Motherwell after a shadow cabinet meeting in Glasgow, Mr Miliband said: "Zero-hour contracts have spread like an epidemic across our economy.

"The government's own figures say they have increased three-fold since 2010 and some estimates suggest there are one million people on these contracts across the UK including at least 90,000 here in Scotland."

He will say the contracts can offer "short-term flexibility for employers and employees" but that most employers don't use them because they are "incompatible with building a loyal, skilled and productive workforce".

He added that Labour is determined to ban the "worst abuses of the system".

"It has left too many people not knowing how they will make ends meet from one week to the next, and unable to plan for the future," he will say.

Under Labour's plans, workers on zero-hours contracts would:

not be obliged to be available outside contracted hoursbe free to work for other employershave a right to compensation if shifts are cancelled at short noticehave "clarity" from their employer about their employment status, terms and conditionshave the right to request a contract with a "minimum amount of work" after six months with an employer - this could only be refused if employers could prove their business could not operate any other wayhave an automatic right to a fixed-hours contract after 12 months with an employer

Mr Miliband said this can "only be done across the UK", adding: "If Scotland left the UK it would be harder to end the abuse of zero-hours contracts either here or in what is left of the UK."

Labour asked Norman Pickavance, former HR director at supermarket chain Morrisons, to carry out a review into zero-hours contracts, and these plans are based on his recommendations.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the party was targeting "exploitative" contracts.

"One man's flexibility is another's insecurity", he said, claiming some workers were "scared out of their wits".

But James Sproule, chief economist for the Institute of Directors, said "flexibility" in the labour market was helping the economy to recover.

"Zero-hours contracts are one small part of a much broader flexible labour market", he said.

Zero-hours review

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said zero-hours contracts could offer "welcome flexibility" and the government would not "ban them outright", but there had been "evidence of abuse".

And Business Minister Matthew Hancock said: "We want to strike the right balance between flexibility for the businesses who create jobs and making sure there's adequate protection for employees. That's why we are carrying out a review into zero hours contracts."

A spokeswoman for Scotland's Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing said the Scottish government had already acted on zero-hours contracts within its "limited powers".

He said Scotland was currently "waiting for Westminster action", but independence would allow a Scottish government to consider "issues such as zero-hours contracts" and "improve employment opportunities".

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Iran 'won't give up nuclear plans' must visit

Ayatollah Khamenei said "no-one has the right to bargain over" Iran's "nuclear achievements" Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has backed talks with world powers but warned Tehran will never give up its nuclear programme.

He said Iran had agreed to the talks to "break the hostile atmosphere" with the international community.

Iran and six world powers are working to agree a deal to replace an interim accord that expires in July.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the two sides were up to 60% in agreement after latest talks in Vienna.

A senior US official was less upbeat but said all sides were committed to keep trying.

The US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany want to see Iran scale back its enrichment of uranium, which they fear could be used to make a nuclear bomb.

Tehran says its nuclear work is purely peaceful and hopes to agree a deal in return for a permanent lifting of sanctions.

Javad Zarif and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said in a joint statement on Wednesday that their third round of talks since November had included "substantive and detailed discussions covering all the issues which will need to be part of a Comprehensive Agreement".

They will meet again in May for a fourth round of talks to "bridge the gaps in all the key areas and work on the concrete elements of a possible" agreement, the statement said.

Iran insists that its enrichment programme is for energy and medical purposes

Ayatollah Khamenei told a gathering of nuclear scientists that Tehran agreed to the talks to show the international community that it was not seeking nuclear weapons.

"These talks need to continue but all must know that despite continuation of the talks, activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of nuclear research and development won't be halted at all."

Telling negotiators not to "accept any coercive words from the other party," he said: "None of the country's nuclear achievements can be stopped, and no-one has the right to bargain over it."

Under the interim agreement, which was agreed in January, Iran froze certain nuclear activities for six months in exchange for a partial lifting of sanctions.

The world powers now want Iran to agree to permanently reduce the scope of its enrichment programme and to give UN inspectors more oversight.

So far, the six world powers have been united in their negotiations but Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last month has caused tension between Moscow and the West.

Russia and Iran are said to be negotiating an oil-for-goods deal thought to be worth up to $20bn (£12bn), which the US says would undermine the nuclear talks.

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