A Tory County Durham MP apologised to three frontbench female Labour MPs after he suggested they should “shut up” and listen to him. 

There were gasps in the House of Commons chamber as Sedgefield's Paul Howell made the remark, adding: “You have chirped and talked – do you want to hear or do you want to shut up?”. He then immediately apologised.

Shadow minister Sarah Owen said later in the debate: “When he tells us to ‘shut up’, no. “When people in this country are suffering, when people in this country cannot afford their bills, and when people in this country cannot get onto the housing ladder, no.

“I will never shut up, because they crashed the economy and we will always and proudly be on the side of ordinary working people. Perhaps maybe he should go away and learn some manners.”

It followed shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy telling MPs it was “obscene” that the former Prime Minister was entitled to a severance payment of almost £19,000 after just seven weeks in office, while her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was “set to rake in £17,000” for even less.

Labour’s censure motion called on the pair to forgo at least £6,000 each because of their “mismanagement of the economy while in office”, with the sum said to be equal to average yearly increase in mortgage costs.

Deputy Commons Speaker Nigel Evans accepted the apology, but reminded the Opposition: “This isn’t a chat. This is a debate.”