BASILDON MP Angela Smith discussed employment rights with staff at a temporary workers' agency.

Mrs Smith, who is parliamentary private secretary to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, talked with staff at Premier Work Support, at their office in East Square, Basildon.

They discussed whether the Government should introduce tighter regulations to stop exploitation of temporary workers.

Joe Green, managing director of Premier Work Support, said afterwards: "A recent attempt to introduce a bill in Parliament was dropped, which is good because we believe it would have restricted the labour market and made it harder for people to find a job.

"We had a good discussion for about 45 minutes and Mrs Smith was very knowledgeable and friendly."

Mrs Smith said she would be in favour of some form of regulation.

She said: "While this company's work practices seem to be very good, there are some terrible examples of exploitation of temporary workers, where they have no holiday pay and health and safety is non-existent."