Ministers suffered a blow on Wednesday as members of the European parliament voted to end Britain’s opt-out from European Union rules restricting working hours. MEPs voted 421 to 273 to remove the opt-out from a revised working time directive approved by EU employment ministers in June.

Business leaders in the UK and the rest of Europe called for a reversal of the decision, which would remove the opt-out within three years of a new directive being triggered. Britain only agreed to support an agency workers directive – giving temporary staff the same pay as permanent staff after 12 weeks in a job – in return for being allowed to keep its opt-out.