The Glastonbury Festival has responded to criticism over its treatment of European workers on zero-hours contracts.

It was reported earlier this week that Glastonbury organisers allegedly hired approximately 700 workers who were set to help clean up after the festival for two weeks, but up to 600 of them were fired after two days and told there was not enough work which left them stranded. The workers travelled from the Czech Republic, Spain, Poland and Latvia.

Video footage acquired by The Independent showed a man telling the workers that they should be "grateful" for two days work and that he did not think it was the festival's responsibility to feed them after being let go.

Glastonbury issued a statement: "In response to recent stories in the media, we would like to state that Glastonbury festival’s post-event litter picking team are all given temporary worker agreements for the duration of the clean-up. As well as being paid, they are provided with free meals and access to on-site facilities. The length of the clean-up varies considerably from year to year, based largely upon the weather conditions before, during and after the festival.”

“This is something the litter pickers - many of whom return year after year - are made aware of in their worker agreements (which assure them of a minimum of eight hours’ work). This year was an unusually dry one for Glastonbury. That, coupled with a fantastic effort from festival goers in taking their belongings home, meant that the bulk of the litter picking work was completed after 2.5 days (in 2016, a very wet year, the equivalent period was around 10 days).

"All but a core crew of litter pickers were advised that there was no further work available after Friday (June 30). Those who weren’t able to leave the site over the weekend were given further meals, plus assistance with travel to nearby towns with public transport links. We’d like to thank the litter pickers for their work on the clean-up, which was - as always - hugely valued by the festival."

The Labour Party condemned the use of zero-hours contracts in Glastonbury. In a statement, a spokeman for Jeremy Corbyn said, “Jeremy and the Labour party have taken a very strong stand against the use of zero-hours contracts, and the exploitation of migrant and other workers, and the spread of all manner of insecure agency working, and we would take that view wherever it happened.” The spokesperson added that Corbyn will speak to the Glastonbury festival organisers.