UNIONS and campaigners have slammed the Tories’ “legacy of structural racism” in Britain’s job market.

The TUC warned today there was “racism at every stage of the labour market” after the latest job market figures showed the number of black and minority ethnic (BME) workers in insecure work has soared above their white counterparts.

Between 2011 and 2023, BME workers in insecure jobs increased by half a million, from about 360,200 to 878,800. Proportionally, this is a rise from 12.2 to 16.9 per cent of the workforce.

The same period saw the number of white workers in insecure jobs jump from 2.8 million to 3.8 million, from 10.5 per cent of the workforce to 11.7 per cent.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Too many BME workers are trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs with limited rights and protections, and treated like disposable labour.”

Labour faces pressure from business leaders to water down its promise to bring in an employment rights Bill within the first 100 days of the party coming to power that will ban zero-hours contracts and ensure that key workplace rights are available from day one of a job.

“This is a historic opportunity to address inequality in the labour market and set the nation on course for a better future. We must grab it,” said Mr Nowak.

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts national chairwoman Zita Holbourne said the rise was largely due to BME workers being the disproportionatly impacted by devastating Tory cuts imposed since the party took office in 2010.

She said Britain had always relied on BME and migrant workers to do the jobs that others did not want, “but in return, systemic and institutional racism had meant they faced and continue to face worse conditions, lower pay and job insecurity.

“The new Labour government must make these concerns and lived realities a priority. Ending precarious working contracts must go hand in hand with zero tolerance of racism, in our workplaces as well as on our streets.”

A Momentum spokeswoman said: “The Tories have left a dire legacy of a precarious, low-wage economy, which disproportionately affects workers from ethnic minorities.

“It is a key responsibility of the Labour government to put this right by not only implementing the New Deal for Working People but by aggressively taking on structural racism throughout society.”

A spokesperson for the government said its employment rights Bill “represents the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.”