THE CBI bosses’ club has criticised the Working Time Directive more than any other European Union policy, research revealed yesterday.

An analysis of CBI press releases shows it issued 65 pro-EU statements between September 2014 and September 2015.

By comparison, the big business lobbying group issued just 13 criticising EU policy over the same period.

Vote Leave spokesman Peter Cruddas said it showed the CBI is “more interested in promoting the EU than fighting for what is good for Britain.”

On the few occasions that the CBI did break with Brussels, it was usually to call for curbs on workers’ rights.

The CBI is particularly critical of the Working Time Directive with seven of those 13 statements aimed at the policy.

The directive limits working hours to 48 a week and legislates for a minimum of 28 days of paid holidays each year.

The CBI has called for David Cameron to fight for a British opt out from the policy as part of the Tory PM’s renegotiation of EU membership.

In his new year’s message, CBI director John Cridland wrote: “We also need less EU — no more lifestyle regulation on matters like employment, such as the Working Time Directive, which should be left to member states.”

And he added more recently: “Interpreting EU employment rules like prescriptive regulation around working hours needs addressing.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady demanded at the weekend that Mr Cameron rule out a “two-tier Europe where British workers get worse rights and lower wages.”