Chancellor Gordon Brown has incurred the wrath of industry bodies by undertaking to implement the Warwick Agreement, which includes proposals for equal pay and conditions for temporary staff.

Addressing the TUC Conference in Brighton, Brown promised to implement the proposals – which critics believe could damage the recruitment industry.

The Warwick Agreement, drawn up in conjunction with unions in July last year, means implementation of the European Agency Workers Directive (AWD), which British industry groups oppose.

The AWD is currently shelved after several EU countries, including the UK, blocked it at a council of ministers last year.

“We will put in place, this year and the next, the legislation honouring in full the Warwick agreement,” said Brown.

But Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry business group, said: “Introducing equal conditions for temporary workers after only six weeks would undermine the flexible labour market that has helped the UK economy outperform its European neighbours.

“A world of collective agreements, sympathy strikes and closed employer/union representative discussions will always fail to deliver the dynamism and full employment that has made the UK the envy of Europe.”

Tom Hadley, director of external relations at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which opposed the directive, said the Chancellor made the comments to appease unions.

“We don’t believe that this is a change in position,” he said. “But we will continue to try and find an agreement that is workable for the UK and it is important for us to keep pushing our case.”