FACTS THAT PROVE HIM WRONG

MORE DISADVANTAGED TEENS TAKE DEGREES:

The number of disadvantaged 18-yearolds entering university full-time has risen by 7 per cent over four years. In 2015/2016 , the number was 44,285, while in 2011/12 it was 41,405.

COMPREHENSIVE PUPILS HOLD THEIR OWN AT UNIVERSITY:

Some 89.9 per cent of first-degree entrants were from a state school background in 2015/16, up from 89.8 per cent the previous year. Overall, 86 per cent of sixth formers are state-educated.

RISE OF EX-STATE SCHOOL MPS:

Around 29 per cent of UKeducated MPs are educated privately, compared to about 7 per cent of the population. In 1983, 50 per cent of MPs went to private school, while in 1992 the proportion was 40 per cent.

EARNINGS RIFT NARROWS:

Last year income inequality – the gap between the earnings of the richest and the poorest – fell to its lowest level since 1986. It is the result of flat-lining wages for the very richest while the poorest households saw their incomes grow, partly due to higher employment.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS’ OXBRIDGE DOMINATION IS CHANGING:

This year, Cambridge took more

than 63 per cent state-educated pupils – the highest since at least 1982. Last year, Oxford’s intake of new students had the highest proportion of state school pupils for at least 40 years. It offered 59.2 per cent of places to pupils from state schools, up from 55.6 per cent the previous year.

MORE COMPREHENSIVE PUPILS AT TOP OF BUSINESS:

Only 34 per cent of UK-educated FTSE 100 chief executives went to private school. In 2007 this was 54 per cent and in 1987 it was 70 per cent. Just 31 per cent of UK-educated chief executives of the FTSE 100 companies attended Oxbridge, compared with 39 per cent in 2007.