Ministers again refused to support or oppose Andrew Miller’s Private Member’s Bill in a crucial vote yesterday on giving temporary agency workers equal rights.

The government’s abstention, which was greeted with disappointment from business leaders and accusations of cow-towing to backbenchers, came at the start of the committee stage of the proposed legislation.

Employment minister Pat McFadden refused to back an opposition motion to defer the Bill’s passage through Parliament, adding that the government needed more time to resolve the issue at European level.

Previous moves in Europe to give agency workers equal treatment, in terms of equivalent salaries, paid holiday, overtime and sick pay of full time staff, have been blocked by the government. But Gordon Brown is facing increasing pressure to offer concessions after more than a third of Labour MPs voted in favour of the Bill in February.

Brown hopes to head off further pressure from Europe by creating a commission involving business and unions to reach a consensus.