A proposed European directive could damage employment opportunities in Britain, a survey has suggested.

A poll conducted by the CBI and the PreTemps employment agency found that 45 per cent of employers would offer fewer temporary work placements if a new directive was implemented in the UK.

Extra costs would make employing temporary workers less affordable, according to 59 per cent of respondents.

The Working Time Directive also proved unpopular, according to the survey.

Some 39 per cent of bosses claimed that removing the opt-out clause, which allows employees to work longer hours, would have a significant impact upon their businesses, compared to just over a quarter who expected no impact at all.

At present, just under a fifth of employees use the opt-out on a regular basis, a proportion that rises to 24 per cent in smaller companies.

"We reject charges that we are anti-regulation, what we oppose is bad regulation," said John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI.

"This survey shows inappropriate and unnecessary EU rules threatening the freedom of individuals to work when and how they choose."

The continuing pensions row is also highlighted by the poll.

It found that 27 per cent of employers were running a final salary pension scheme, compared to 43 per cent the year before.

"The dam has burst as rising costs overwhelm employers who are increasingly being forced to pull out of final salary schemes for new employees," said Cridland.

"So far the loudest calls have been for things such as compulsory employer contributions and pensions protection which will only push up costs.

"We need radical proposals that will make pensions simpler and more affordable."

"Well-crafted, thought-through legislation can achieve its objectives without excessively damaging, or unintended, consequences."

Conservatives said the government's tax raid on pension schemes had led to the crisis.

"Almost from the moment Labour came to office, they have added to the cost of companies running pension schemes, starting with Gordon Brown's £5 billion a year tax and running right through to the extra costs of winding-up imposed in June this year," said shadow pensions secretary David Willetts.

"It is hardly surprising that faced with rising costs companies feel they have little incentive to keep pension schemes open.

"Labour have claimed that occupational pension schemes were one of the great welfare successes of the last century. In six years they have now brought them close to extinction in the private sector."