Tony Blair has personally endorsed the European Agency Workers Directive, which calls for equal pay and conditions for temps.

The prime minister made the commitment as he addressed union leaders at last week’s Trades Union Congress conference in Brighton.

It is the first time Blair has publicly backed the directive, which business leaders warn could cost thousands of temporary jobs a year. He told delegates: “You know our concerns on agency workers to maintain necessary labour market flexibility. But we will support the EU directive on agency workers.”

Blair promised to uphold an agreement with unions at Labour’s National Policy Forum in Warwick this summer that agreed on a range of employment rights measures.

One of these was to support the directive, which the government had previously been blocking.

Labour has been under growing pressure from unions to back the directive, which will mean temps receive the same pay and conditions as their full-time colleagues. The government had previously called for a one-year derogation period before the rule applied.

A survey by Labour Force has estimated that temps’ wages are on average 30% lower than those of full-time workers.

Tom Hadley, director of external relations at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation trade body, said: “The REC’s recent meetings with government officials have confirmed this simply means that the government is trying to find a solution to AWD but does not mean it will agree to an unworkable directive.”