I ADMIT my memory is a bit hazy, however I cannot recall a Labour government introducing zero-hour contracts as claimed by your correspondent Mike Holt.

It is accepted that for some people zero-hour contracts are convenient.

But too many employers are using them to exploit people in vulnerable situations.

The same is happening with people being "told" they are self-employed.

There is a difference between people who are genuinely self-employed and people being instructed that they are self-employed.

In its simplest terms if you are self-employed you choose whether or not you take up work.

However, zero-hour contracts and the increasing trend of offering self- employed contracts are a ways and means for employers to duck their responsibilities.

No holiday pay, no sick pay, no redundancy pay and no pension contributions, is it any wonder employers love them?

The sad reality is that though more people than ever before are apparently employed, the tax receipts to the exchequer have not increased.

That is because if you are on a zero-hour contract or are self- employed you are classed as being in work, regardless of whether you actually earn anything.

It is unlikely these contracts can be outlawed but there need to be restrictions put in place before they become the norm.

Beneficial to some but the reality is an insidious exploitation of workers and a throwback to the "good old days" of workers queuing up hoping they will picked for a day's work.

Graham Maxwell, Bebington