High street stores copying catwalk trends are fueling a "throwaway culture" which is damaging the environment, MPs have warned.

The influential Environmental Audit Committee has written to Britain's ten biggest clothing retailers to ask them reveal their environmental record, as part of an investigation into how the industry is polluting the Earth.

Companies which have received the letters include Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next, Tesco, Asda and Sports Direct. It comes after the Committee was sent evidence showing people in the UK are buying twice as many clothes as they were 10 years ago at 27kg each.

An online shopping boom means Brits are now buying more new clothes than any other European country, almost double that of consumers in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, the Committee said.

Mary Creagh, chair of the Committee, said: "Instagram is fuelling this as people are adopting a "look and chuck" - we've got a lot more fast fashion.