Parliament will only achieve true equality when there are as many “rubbish women” as there are “rubbish men”, a Labour frontbencher has claimed.

Dawn Butler, the shadow minister for women and equalities, said that female MPs “always have to be quite spectacular” while their male counterparts can get away with being mediocre - or worse.

Meanwhile, she also said women will have to “wait for people to die” in order for some of the remaining barriers which prevent them from taking part in politics to be removed.

Appearing in front of the Women and Equalities Committee, Ms Butler was asked what single action could be taken to improve female representation in the House of Commons.

She pointed to the success of Labour’s adoption of all women shortlists as a “game changer” which had boosted the number of the party’s female MPs from 9.1 per cent in 1987 to 45 per cent in 2007.

She then said: “The other thing, this might sound a bit flippant, but more rubbish women because women always have to be quite spectacular and driven.

“We know when we have reached real equality when we have as many rubbish women in Parliament as we have rubbish men.”