Made in Dagenham star Gemma Arterton to press MPs over gender pay gap

Made in Dagenham star Gemma Arterton will visit Parliament to highlight the gender pay gap.

The former Bond girl and veterans of the Dagenham protest have planned the rally in a bid to push firms and the government to address the gender inequality in pay.

Grazia magazine and the trade union Unite will also be party to the demonstration in Westminster at the same time as the vote, calling on Parliamentarians to support it.

This is expected to be attended by Gwen Davis, Sheila Douglass and Vera Sime, who were amongst the original Ford Dagenham workers to strike for equal pay and, and stars from Made in Dagenham including Arterton and Isla Blair.

The rally is expected to hear from top employers PricewaterhouseCoopers and Genesis Housing, on why they already publish their pay gap - two of just five companies to do so.

"Women are losing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds because they still earn less than men over their lifetime," said Gloria De Piero MP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

Labour MP Sarah Champion will also propose legislation on "pay transparency" to make publication of the difference between men and women's pay by big companies mandatory.

"It's time the Tories and Liberal Democrats demonstrated their commitment to delivering equal pay and vote with us," De Piero added.

To coincide with the vote the party has release a new analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data which shows that women earn on average £209,976 ($328,322, €263,991) less over their lifetime than men.