LABOUR has vowed to sack the French firm blamed for bungling “fitness to work” tests – branding it “a disgrace”.

But a Southampton Labour MP said his party needed to go further, by also ripping up the much-criticised guidelines for testing people on sickness benefits.

Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead welcomed a pledge by Liam Byrne, the party’s work spokesman, that Atos would be sacked by a Labour Government.

But he added: “If they are replaced with another company bent on inhuman application of bad rules, nothing will have been achieved.

“Part of the problem has always been that rules are now so punitive and unrealistic that doing an ‘Atos’ with them is almost an inevitability.”

John Denham, the Southampton Itchen MP, added: “Atos has shown it cannot carry out the tests fairly and accurately. It is important always to make sure the rules are right, but we have to start by getting public confidence that any rules will be implemented properly.”

Thousands of people claiming sickness benefits in Hampshire have already been found fit for work after taking the new test.

And by next year around twothirds of the 28,000 people who were on incapacity benefit (IB) in the county are expected to be put through the work test.

But the tests are hugely controversial, with 39 per cent of appeals successful and mistakes by Atos condemned by MPs for causing “considerable distress”.

Atos has pointed out that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – not the firm itself – sets the guidelines for the work capability assessment (WCA).

Liam Byrne, the party’s work spokesman, did not say how Labour – which introduced the WCA and first employed Atos – would change the rules used to find people “fit for work”.

The announcement was one of many as the conference got under way, including pledges to: l Make firms train a UK apprentice for every foreign worker they employ.

l Make apprenticeships tougher, after a report found 57 per cent of those introduced since 2010 were “low quality”.

l Offer “wraparound” childcare for all primary school pupils from 8am to 6pm – which Labour insisted “won’t cost any money”.

l Increase maximum fines for firms failing to pay the minimum wage from £5,000 to £50,000 – and explore a higher minimum in finance, IT and construction.

But the Conservatives insisted the apprentices plan was unravelling, because firms would be required to offer them across the EU, not just to the UK-born.

And they claimed Labour had already opened up a £28 billion “black hole” of unfunded promises – despite promising “iron discipline” on spending.