PUBLIC sector employers will have to monitor the social class of their staff under a Labour government in a move designed to improve social mobility, shadow equalities minister Gloria De Piero has announced.

Ms De Piero said an "inequality of opportunity" had become entrenched in many professions such as law and journalism and that Britain is still not "class-blind".

She pledged to work towards recruiting more working class MPs such as former home secretary Alan Johnson, who went "from the London slums to the Cabinet table", as well as improving social mobility in the public sector.

Ms De Piero told the Labour conference: "We're Labour because we believe all of us have the right to live in dignity, free from discrimination.

"We're Labour because we believe it shouldn't matter if you are able-bodied or not, where you were born, or the colour of your skin. It shouldn't matter if you're a man or woman, it shouldn't matter who you love. What matters is your determination and passion to fulfil your potential.

"And it's a principle that should hold true whether you're born on a council estate or a country estate. But too often that's just not the case.

"We talk a lot about smashing glass ceilings and rightly so, but the Labour Party will never forget about the people who can't even get through the door of the building.

"Because if you're born poor, you are more likely to stay poor in this country than in other wealthy nations.

"There are ladders that can be used to climb up and get on but they aren't being extended to everyone."