A committee of MPs has criticised European Union plans to extend the employment rights of temporary workers.

In a report published on Monday, the Commons trade and industry select committee said the agency workers directive was not the best way to tackle problems in the sector.

The committee rejected concerns of employers that the proposed rules would extend rights to temporary workers too soon after they joined a firm's books.

But they added that the scope of the directive proposed real problems.

"Although there are abuses in the area of the employment of temporary workers, we are not convinced the agency workers directive represents the right way to address these," said the report.

"Employers' concerns have focused on the period, currently set at six weeks, after which agency workers will be entitled to equivalent pay and conditions to their permanently employed colleagues.

"We think that the scope of the directive is more important.

"Agency workers should be entitled to equivalent working conditions immediately but we think there is fundamental difficulty in determining and enforcing an 'equal pay rate'."

The government was also urged to scrap its opt out of the working time directive.

"We are not convinced by the arguments for retaining the opt-out from the working time directive, which we consider has enough flexibility to accommodate the needs of business," said the MPs.