MINISTERS were told to tackle insecure work and ban zero-hours contracts today as employment figures showed Britain’s workforce has declined by 200,000 since the pandemic began.

The latest jobs figures, showing unemployment at 4.8 per cent, were released as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced derision for a Coventry speech in which he attempted to flesh out his ill-defined “levelling-up” promises.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “We can’t level up the country without levelling up at work.