Derbyshire Conservative Group today slammed Labour's blatant hypocrisy over its rebranding of what are effectively hundreds, possibly even thousands, of zero hour contracts at Derbyshire County Council.

Derbyshire Conservative Leader, Cllr Barry Lewis said,

"Derbyshire Labour, like their colleagues at Lancashire County Council have attempted to rebrand ‘zero hours’ as 'relief hours’ contracts, although they remain zero hour based.

It is outrageous on the one hand, to claim how terrible these contracts are supposed to be, even to make grand claims about banning or not using them, to then hide their existence and then hope you don't get caught with your pants down."

Cllr Stuart Ellis, acting Shadow Cabinet Member of Corporate Resources said,

"We are not condemning the council’s use of zero hours contracts, which we believe to be beneficial to both employer and employees alike but we do condemn their blatant attempt to fool the public over a basically uncontentious issue that Labour, at both national and local level, have sought to make controversial. There are clearly a considerable number of Derbyshire County Council employees on these contracts so why seek to distort the facts?"