LABOUR called for regulation. The Tories cried nanny state.

In many ways Parliament witnessed the classic clash of ideologies on Wednesday evening — but this time the battleground was bad barnets.

Westminster’s best-groomed members gathered to debate whether to give a new look to hairdressing legislation passed in 1964.

Labour’s Nia Griffiths praised Britain’s 250,000 hair clippers for contributing £2.6 billion to the economy.

She warned though that the NHS was picking up a big bill when chemical colourings and other technical treatments were botched by unqualified hairdressers and barbers.

And the Llanelli MP suggested that the voluntary register for hairdressers created in the swinging ’60s be made compulsory.

“We have moved on a long way since 1964,” she said.

“Hairdressers were about short back and sides for boys ... our mothers went for a perm now and again.”

Tory MPs rose to give a plug to their high-street hairdresser.

But Ms Griffiths’s suggestion just sounded a bit too much like socialism for short-back-and-sides minister Mark Harper.

It was “best dealt with by business and their representative bodies,” he said.

No matter what the topic, Tory logic never changes.