The future of the Agricultural Wages Board will be discussed in Parliament, after Labour MPs called an opposition debate on Wednesday.

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Labour front benchers are understood to have brought the debate in a bit to avoid a "race to the bottom in rural wages… living standards" and workers rights.

Trade unions and opposition politicians reacted furiously last Tuesday when the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, to which AWB legislation was attached, passed without debate in the Commons. The proposed closure was not debated as time ran short during a session of voting on several Bills from the House of Lords.

Because the AWB's future had only been pinned to the Bill in late December, just hours before Parliament broke for the holidays, Wednesday's debate would have been the first opportunity for MPs to discuss and vote on AWB closure.

The decision to dissolve the quango, which negotiates pay and conditions for more than 150,000 farm workers in England and Wales, was first mooted by the Coalition in 2010. However, the policy has met with fierce opposition since then and the government's plans have proven deeply unpopular; over 60 percent of responses to Defra's consultation on AWB closure were in favour of retention and the Welsh government, supported by the majority of the country's farming industry, is investigating the possibility of setting up a similar board in the country if the AWB is scrapped.

Defra, supported by the NFU in England, maintains that the wage board is wasteful and anachronistic. The department claims that more recent legislation, including the national minimum wage, now protects farm workers and argues AWB elimination is essentially a housekeeping exercise.

Last week, NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond welcomed the events in Parliament; he said, " At last, we can move on from the one-sized-fits-all [sic] approach that puts agriculture out-of-step with the rest of the UK workforce."

However, opponents believe abolition will exacerbate poverty in rural regions already suffering from neglect; Defra's own consultation documents show that AWB closure will result in the transference of £240 million from workers to their employers over ten years, as well as reductions in leave, rest time, provisions for protective clothing, caps on rent for tied in housing and maintenance for working animals.     

Although shadow environment minister Mary Creagh raised a point of order about the lack of vote or debate on the Wage Board closure during the session, her point was slapped down on a technicality.

Before it is passed, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill must gain Royal Assent. If it does, the quango could be dissolved with the expiration of the current Agricultural Wages Order at the end of September.