FORMER Cabinet minister Alan Milburn has urged the professions to recognise that “Britain’s got talent” and to open their doors to people regardless of their social background.

Earlier this year, the Darlington MP announced that he was working on a report to see if his long-standing fear that North-East youngsters were “not getting a fair crack of the whip” when it comes to top jobs was justified.

Yesterday, the Access to Professions Panel, led by Mr Milburn, published figures that showed how Britain is starkly divided when it comes to getting a professional career.

In the North-East, only onethird of the workforce is in professional or managerial jobs, while in London it is more than half.

There are fears that this social divide could widen unless action is taken. Mr Milburn said: “Our earlier research showed professions have become more socially exclusive.

Britain can’t succeed as a closed-shop society.

“I have been listening firsthand to both young people and experts about how we can help more people pursue a professional career. Britain’s got talent –- it’s time to unlock it.”

The MP said the new figures showed that “more needs to be done to make sure that young people in every part of the country who have the aptitude and ability to do so get the chance to pursue a professional career.

“Without action, the risk is that Britain becomes more socially divided.”

Experts estimate that by 2020 professional employment will be the fastest growing sector of the British economy with up to seven million more professional jobs.

The Fair Access: Good Practice report summarises the views and suggestions of more than 120 organisations and professional bodies on how the Government and the professions could help people to get better jobs.

Mr Milburn said his panel’s report “lays down a challenge to all the professions, as well as employers and the Government to now go further and faster in breaking down the practical barrers that stand in the way of talented young people across the country being able to realise their aspirations”.

But Newcastle University medical student Tom Foley warned that the Government needed to do more to financially support students from poor backgrounds.

Mr Foley, who chairs the British Medical Association’s committee on student finance, said: “Worries about getting into debt are putting off people from poorer families applying to go to medical school. The Government has got to provide more financial support for students who want to go into the professions.”