Gwyneth Dunwoody vowed to resist attempts to move her

Mrs Dunwoody defied a two-term limit on holding the post, saying it had been a sub-committee for her first two years.

She was among the committee chairmen agreed by Labour MPs on Monday. All the appointments have to be approved in a vote of the whole House of Commons.

Other chairmen include John Denham at home affairs, Mike Gapes at foreign affairs and Terry Rooney at pensions.

Select committees are the groups of MPs which scrutinise the work of Whitehall departments.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have yet to announce who will head up the committees where they hold the chairmanship.

But Labour's announcements means the party takes control of the work and pensions committee ahead of the publication of a major review of pensions this autumn.

Terry Rooney replaces Liberal Democrat Sir Archy Kirkwood as chairman of the committee.

Here is the full list of Labour's nominations for the chairmanships:

• Health - Kevin Barron

• Home affairs - John Denham

• Education and skills - Barry Sheerman

• Foreign affairs - Mike Gapes

• Transport - Gwyneth Dunwoody

• Work and pensions - Terry Rooney

• Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - Phyillis Starkey

• Wales - Hywel Francis

• Human rights - Andrew Dismore

• Regulatory reform - Andrew Miller.