THE European Parliament yesterday voted to stop the UK opting out of the 48-hour maximum working week.

Employees will therefore be restricted to working an average of 48 hours a week. However, the Parliament voted to extend the period which 48 hours must be averaged over. Previously, employees could only work 48 hours a week, if the time was averaged over 17 weeks.

Now people can average 48 hours over a 52 week period, allowing more flexibility. The legislation now has to go to the Council of Ministers.

All 19 UK Labour MEPs voted for scrapping the opt-out. The news was met with disappointment by the Chamber of Commerce Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The chamber said it was disappointed to see that the European Parliament voted to reject the continuation of the British opt-out from some of the provisions of the Working Time Directive.

"This will impose restrictions on businesses that they could do without," said Chris Harvey, head of policy and representation at the chamber. "The British economy has benefited from a flexible labour market in recent years and we do not need these restrictions, which damage the interests of employers and employees, especially when we are seeing an economic slowdown. We will continue to argue the case for the benefits of a flexible labour market in Europe," Mr Harvey added.