11 July 2017

By Nicola Countouris, Professor of Law at University College London; and Professor Keith D. Ewing, President of the IER

‘A mountain had gone into labour and was groaning terribly. Such rumours excited great expectations all over the country. In the end, however, the mountain gave birth to a mouse’

(Phaedrus, ‘The Mountain in Labour’)

For some, there were great expectations that PM May’s ‘Independent Review of Employment Practices in the Modern Economy’ could offer something more than heart-warming gestures for the millions of workers employed through casual and intermittent contracts, a million or so of them toiling under the permanent insecurity of a zero-hour contract. Unfortunately, after nine long months of gestation, some drama, and a lot of fanfare, the review produced by Mr Matthew Taylor has come up with some seriously underwhelming, where not counterproductive, recommendations.