Labour has called for widespread pay transparency across Britain, proposing legislation that would make it compulsory for big companies to publish the average difference between the pay of their male and female employees.

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, tabled a 10-minute rule bill to enact section 78 of the Equality Act (2010), which was introduced by Labour but abandoned by the coalition when it entered government. The section requires companies that employ more than 250 people to publish their gender pay gap figures.

The bill was backed by 258 MPs, with eight voting against, but it is unlikely to progress further before the general election without government backing. It is Liberal Democrat policy to enact section 78 of the Equality Act and Lib Dem MPs were given a free vote on the issue.

To coincide with the bill, Labour released analysis of figures from the Office of National Statistics that show that women earn an average of £209,976 less than men over a lifetime. The gender pay gap is currently 9.4%, the lowest since records began in 1997.

A rally before the vote was attended by members of the 1967 Ford Dagenham workers strike for equal pay, which is credited with contributing to the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970. The strike was immortalised in the film Made in Dagenham, also a successful West End musical, the star of which – former Bond girl Gemma Arterton – also attended the event.

Arterton said that “any man worth their soul” should be supporting the equal pay campaign. “It’s something I’m deeply passionate about. It’s not just about pay, it’s about being treated with respect and it’s about equality,” she said.

“If you have a woman in your life in any way - whether it be mother, daughter, sister - you should support this campaign because if your wife is earning less, if your daughter is going to go into a workplace where she’s going to be treated less than her male counterparts, it should interest you. So of course any man worth their soul should be supporting this campaign.”

One of the Dagenham strikers, Eileen Pullen, expressed frustration that the gender pay gap still exists. “It’s been 40-odd years now [since the Equal Pay Act 1970] and it should all be finished with now, shouldn’t it?” she said. “Women are always going to have to fight.”

Speaking at the meeting, the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said the cause of “equal pay for work of equal value is a cause that is not yet won in this country. It’s over 40 years since [the Dagenham] campaign, but it is a campaign that we are committed to.”

Gloria de Piero, shadow minister for women and equalities and MP for Ashfield, who was championing the bill, said companies who had already decided to publish their gender pay gap data had said it enabled them to understand the problem.

“[Companies that do it] say the ceiling didn’t cave in when they did this. It just enabled them to see they had a problem and get to grips with it,” she said.

Champion said that a voluntary approach to pay transparency had led only five out of 7,000 big companies to reveal their gender pay gaps.

Champion insisted the intention of the bill was not to “name and shame” but was about placing responsibility on employers. She denied it would be a burden on employers and said it would “focus minds”.

“I was aware that there was a pay gap, but I had no idea how big it was,” she said. “So for me today the biggest thing we’ll do is make women realise that there’s this massive inequality and I hope it’ll start the progress of getting it sorted out.”

On Tuesday afternoon, former Conservative minister Lord Heseltine told the Daily Politics that he opposed legislation because it would create “more bureaucracy, more forms, more deterrent for companies to take on people”.

Government ministers abstained on the bill and all those who opposed the bill were Conservative MPs.

Seven Conservative MPs voted against the bill: Adam Afriyie (MP for Windsor), Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase), Christopher Chope (Christchurch), Stewart Jackson (Peterborough), David Nuttall (Bury North), Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury), and John Whittingdale (Maldon). Tory MP for Hendon Matthew Offord formally abstained by voting in both lobbies.

Final flight

Illustrious retires after 32 years