LABOUR Deputy leader Harriet Harman has hit out at Broxtowe MP Anna Soubry for comments over female GPs.
Ms Soubry, a health minister, said there were "unintended consequences" of training women to become doctors.
She was responding to a statement by Conservative MP Anne McIntosh about the "burden" of female doctors marrying and starting families.
Ms Soubry said: "She makes a very important point when she talks about, rightly, the good number of women who are training to be doctors, but the unintended consequences."
But speaking ahead of a visit to Notts for the East Midlands Labour Party Women's Conference, Ms Harman said: "The problems with accident and emergency have happened on their watch and it has nothing to do with women GPs, bank holidays, the weather, or the GP contract.
"We have a five point wish-list for the Government to deal with the problems in accident and emergency and not one of them has anything to do with the number of female GPs.
"The idea that you can solve this crisis in accident and emergency by only having male GPs is hard to follow."
Later, Ms Soubry said she believed the Government supported schemes which helped retain female doctors.
She added: "I fully support women GPs, my comments were not intended to be derogatory and I was responding to a point made by another MP during the debate.
"As the head of the Royal College of GP also recently pointed out, some female GPs work part-time due to families. The solution is that we need to increase the number of GPs and we are doing that.
"This government supports good working practices such as flexible working, job sharing and part-time working which help retain female doctors."
