Gordon Brown pledged on Wednesday to introduce greater rights for agency workers and allow millions more workers to demand flexible working and training, under a significant extension in employment law planned for the next parliamentary ­session.

Presenting 18 proposed bills to the Commons, the prime minister threw his weight behind the demands from unions and many of his own MPs to give agency workers the statutory right to the same pay and holidays as permanent staff. “It is not fair that even after months in the job, agency workers can currently be paid less than the staff they work alongside,” Mr Brown told MPs.