The Recruitment & Employment Confederation pointed out positives in the Labour Party’s election manifesto released Thursday but called for the political party to make sure the UK’s labour market remains flexible.

“We welcome the proposal to broaden the apprenticeship levy, allowing more flexibility for business,” according to a statement on the manifesto by Tom Hadley, director of policy and campaigns at the REC. “We hope it will allow levy money to be spent on training temporary workers. It is also good to see the manifesto acknowledge that the future immigration system should be based on the UK’s skills needs.”

Hadley noted Labour’s housebuilding plans, for example, will require large numbers of construction workers which the UK currently doesn’t have.

However, he noted the party must ensure flexibility.

“While it is important that the next government creates a regulatory environment that helps workers to thrive, it must also protect one of our labour market’s greatest strengths — its two-way flexibility,” Hadley said. “Any changes to rights and regulations around temporary workers must also keep our jobs market agile for both employers and workers.”

Separately, The Freelancer & Contractor Services Association commented on the manifesto’s discussion of work practices regarding independent contractors.

“FCSA welcomes Labour’s promise to protect the UK workforce particularly in its pledge to end bogus self-employment and create a single status of worker for everyone apart from those genuinely self-employed in business on their own account,” FCSA Chief Executive Julia Kermode said in a statement.

But while umbrella businesses are an example of treating workers well and providing contractors with great stability and employment, there is also a rise in tax-avoidance schemes that target contractors, Kermode said.

“Unfortunately, there are increasing numbers of tax avoidance schemes which aggressively target contractors, luring them into dubious arrangements which put innocent workers at significant financial risk, and these schemes must be stopped,” Kermode said. “With the gig economy on the rise it is important that policymakers act to protect the vulnerable and precarious whilst not unfairly penalising genuinely self-employed people who are important contributors to the UK economy.”