It would be the first coal-powered station in 24 years

David Chaytor (Bury North) said the proposed site at Kingsnorth near Rochester was at odds with government plans to tackle climate change.

Medway Council has approved a planning application to build the power station.

But Mr Chaytor said the application did not take into account clean coal or carbon-fixing technology.

Human production of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is largely due to the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and petrol.

'Requirement to reduce'

Mr Chaytor told Commons Leader Harriet Harman "there's a clear contradiction between the expansion of new coal-fired power generation without carbon capture and the aspirations in the Climate Change Bill to reduce carbon emissions by at least 60% and possibly more.

"Would it not be the best way forward to have a public inquiry into this new application and can we have a debate on this so these contradictions can be explored."

Ms Harman said: "In the Climate Change Bill we have not an aspiration to reduce carbon emissions, but actually a requirement by law to reduce carbon emissions and our energy policy will make sure that that is the case.