UK Employment law - whats my position?

I'm currently on a temp agency contract which is renewed every month. I work alongside permanent employees.

The organisation I work for are currently recruiting permanent staff and the implication seems to be that when they have recruited enough permanent staff, the temporary agency staff will be "let go".

I have applied for one of these permanent positions but my manager is dragging her feet, going on about how you have to get "the best person for the job" and how they've been "deluged with applicants" etc etc. I feel really hurt about this as I work really hard - my performance in my job has been very good, I can certainly do the job, as I've demonstrated to her. But this seems to count for nothing in her eyes.

Is it legal to just "let people go" like this without any reason, other than you preferred the new applicants to your existing temp staff? I just want to be sure I have no rights in this situation.

I used to work for one of the large agencies. I am afraid this is a common problem for temp staff.
It is NOT the case more often than not that the temp is not good enough for the job. It IS however, more likely that the company you are working temp for, DON'T want to pay the fees to the temp agency for taking you on permanently. The Fees are quite high.
If you are really disgruntled about this, ask your temp advisor to talk with them on your behalf. Loads of temps get into full time work like this.She will work on them for you, since you have been doing the job and doing it well by what you say. The Temp Advisor can point out to them, that this is an unfair situation.

Temporary staff are just that, people employed temporarily while the firm does not have the staff on its own books to do the job. It's quite legal (and indeed usual practice) to dispense with the temps once they are no longer required.

Your work with the company may have given you a "foot in the door" because they know your capabilities but it's no guarantee of permanent employment, I'm afraid.

Morally it might not be right but legally they are within their rights to just 'let you go' if they wish, unfortunately with temp positions they are just that temporary unless of course they made an indication that it was a temp to perm position but even then they don't have to keep you during the temp time. You could always double check with the Citizen advice bureau to be sure.

As soon as your contract runs out at the end of a month you are no longer an employee so they can ask you to leave. I went through about 3 years of disapppointment over temp jobs before I was taken on Temp to Perm somewhere. Don't get disheartened if they don't want to keep you on.
If the British labour market was stifled by too much employment protection it would be like France where there is high unemployment. Think of it as easy come easy go. You'll be able to pick up a new temp job very soon I expect. That's my experience.

No unfortunatly you don't have any rights to the job as a temp but hopefully your experiance in the job and in the company will help get you the job - good luck!!

Temp means just that, temporary. There was no indication when you started that it would lead to a permanent job, therefore they are quite within their rights, might not be ethical but perfectly legal

Morally wrong, but legally correct. What you should do is tell us all the name of the company and we can then tell them where they might be going wrong!