England's elite Oxford and Cambridge Universities have long dominated Westminster.

The two ancient seats of learning can currently boast half the members of David Cameron's British cabinet.

But analysis by The Herald shows that Scotland's four medieval universities between them are proportionately even more influential north of the border.

Between them, Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen educated fully half of Scotland's 59 MPs.

In fact, more than a third of Scottish MPs elected earlier this month attended Glasgow or Edinburgh at one time or another.

That compares with about a quarter of MPs who went to Oxford or Cambridge.

               

The big Scottish universities may not be quite as elitist as Oxbridge, which still takes a huge disproportionate number of students from fee-paying or selective schools.

The four main holders of public office in the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Theresa May went to Oxford.

Of those, only Mr Hammond did so after attending a state comprehensive.

But Glasgow alone already has proportionately as many graduates in the Scottish Parliament - 25 per cent - as Oxford and Cambridge have put together in the Commons.

Recent Glasgow alumni to star on the political stage include First Ministers Donald Dewar and Nicola Sturgeon.

Fully 12 of the 59 Scottish MPs have attended Glasgow University in one capacity or another. That is 20 per cent of the total.

They include Mhairi Black, the 20-year-old student who has just become Britain's youngest MP for centuries, and John Nicolson, the former BBC and ITV correspondent, who also studied at Harvard. Both represent the SNP.

Another nine Scottish MPs went to Edinburgh, including the Aberdeen South's Kirsty Blackman, who dropped out after a year studying medicine, and Edinburgh South West's Joanna Cherry, who read law in the capital.

Edinburgh also educated David Mundell, the Scottish secretary and Scotland's lone Conservative MP, who sits in cabinet alongside English MP and Energy Secretary Amber Rudd, another Edinburgh graduate.

St Andrews has three MPs in the Scottish contingent of MPs, including former first minister Alex Salmond. It also boasts a cabinet member, in Perth-born Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

Aberdeen University has six alumni among the 59 Scottish MPs, including former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael and new Glasgow SNP MPs Natalie McGarry and Alison Thewliss.

That is fewer than the seven who did undergraduate or post-graduate studies at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.

Professor Michael Keating of Aberdeen University, reckons Oxbridge is still more influential than the ancient Scottish universities, because of its graduates abilities to reach the very top of British power.

Speaking of the number of MPs with degrees from ancient Scottish universities, he said: "There doesn't seem to be the same level of dominance that Oxford and Cambridge have in England but clearly the more traditional universities have come to dominate Scottish politics - especially Glasgow University."

The Herald's analysis is based on either public statements by MPs or on their own responses to our questions.

Only one of the 59, Peter Grant, the SNP's new MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife, has refused to reveal his educational background.

The accountant, a former leader of Fife Council, said that he did not regard the information as "relevant".

According to the last census, 25 per cent of the adult population of Scotland had degrees or degree equivalent qualifications.

However, that figure rises to 84 per cent of the 58 Scottish MPs who, unlike Mr Grant, are prepared to provide basic biographical details.

Several MPs attended more than one university.