Labour Co-Op MPs slam zero hours contracts...while their own donor uses them

By Mark Wallace
Follow Mark on Twitter.

4 days ago ONS said they were 50,000 out on their #zerohours figures; according to CIPD it's 800,000 more http://t.co/sP619mtpA3

— Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) August 5, 2013

RT @mary_senior_: Zero-hours contracts 'affect 1m' and far too many in education #ucu http://t.co/Avr6xj0O5R

— cathy jamieson mp (@cathyjamieson) August 5, 2013

Great to see @tom_watson calling for #zerohours to be outlawed. My private members Bill aims to ban them

— Andy Sawford MP (@AndySawfordMP) August 5, 2013

At last the campaign on Zero Hours contracts is taking off now let's link this to stealth privatisation via G4S Serco et al @BBCr4today

— Barry Sheerman MP (@BSheermanMP) August 5, 2013

Evidently the news has gone out today from Labour HQ that it's time Opposition MPs did something over the summer recess. The topic of choice is zero-hours contracts and, lo and behold, flurries of Labour MPs have been tweeting away.

I've picked out the four tweeting MPs above for a reason. As well as dutifully obeying the orders of the day, they have something else in common - each is a Labour & Co-operative Party MP.

One of the major employers caught up in the zero hours row that they are stoking is Co-Operative Funeralcare, part of the Co-Operative Group, aka the people who fund the Co-Op Party.

This is an awkward topic for Labour to pick, given that there are 32 Co-Op MPs on the Labour benches, including Ed Balls. While he doesn't sit as their representative, Ian Murray, the Shadow Minister responsible for the policy, lists himself as a Co-Operative Party member.

Perhaps before calling for the contracts to be banned, they might start by boycotting their own campaign donor?