A ‘rebel MP’ who defied the Labour whips has defended his position.

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones abstained from a vote on the government’s controversial fiscal charter.

The charter, which was rejected by 191 Labour MPs, requires the public finances to be in overall budget surplus by 2019-20 and was passed by 320 to 258. Mr Jones was one of 21 MPs who abstained from the vote.

Labour had previously pledged to support the government bill and then u-turned, leading to widespread criticism from members.

Mr Jones said the bill was ‘Westminster at its worst’.

He said: “There was nothing in the motion, it was silly Westminster games.

“The legislation cannot bind future governments and is pointless.

“The leadership of the Labour Party have had numerous positions on this, in the past three weeks we have been told we would be voting for it, then abstaining and then a couple of days before we were told we would be voting against it.

“I take politics seriously and I think this kind of messing around is an example of Westminster at its worse.”