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Shadow treasury minister Peter Dowd said there was more chance of finding "rocking horse dung" than a Tory who agrees the pay cap should be lifted.

MPs are not "in this together" with public sector workers over pay because they would not run into a burning building despite their £76,000 a year salary, one claimed.

The SNP's David Linden called for public sector workers to receive a pay rise as MPs debated a petition calling on the government to scrap the pay cap and give police, other emergency workers and schools staff a decent increase.

The government defended itself against claims it treats public sector workers as "the enemy", while shadow treasury minister Peter Dowd said there was more chance of finding "rocking horse dung" than a Conservative who agrees the pay cap should be lifted.

Mr Linden (Glasgow East) told the debate he spent a day working as a firefighter during the September recess, and said: "One of the things I was quite struck by was the bravery of these guys, because when a building is on fire they run towards it, in the same way that we saw with Grenfell Tower.

"And I think as MPs on £76,000 a year the reality is that none of us would run into a burning building - but that's the reality of what these guys are doing.

"And so the government will say 'oh we're all in this together', but the reality is we're not in this together."

Labour's Laura Pidcock (North West Durham) also questioned MPs' salaries, telling the Westminster Hall debate: "How can it be right or justified... that in 2015 members awarded themselves a ten per cent pay rise whilst most of the public sector were capped at one per cent.

"Why is it, and people really do feel this, that it's one rule for us in this place and another for all of the rest?"

Labour MPs Helen Jones (Warrington North), leading the debate, and former minister John Spellar (Warley) accused the Tories of treating public sector workers as "the enemy".

But Treasury minister Andrew Jones, responding for the Government, said: "I don't think anybody sees our public servants as the enemy."

Almost 150,000 people have signed the petition, launched in September by Unison, demanding an immediate pay rise for all public service staff, at least in line with inflation.

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