Shadow equalities minister, Gloria de Piero, says Britain is still not class-blind and Labour will take action to widen opportunity

Labour will take action against class discrimination by asking public sector employers to monitor the social background of their workforce, Gloria de Piero, the shadow equalities minister, has said.

The senior Labour MP said the UK is still not class-blind and Labour would try to break open the closed shops of politics, law, journalism and business to people from all backgrounds.

De Piero said she was angry that just 25 out of some 650 graduates who got into the civil service fast stream were from working class backgrounds.

She said the legal profession was already monitoring the social background of applicants and a Labour government would work to ensure this is done in the public sector.

"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," she told the party's autumn conference.

"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."

She said three-quarters of senior judges and nearly half of journalists are from private schools, which educate just 7% of the population.

"This is not an accident of talent. This is inequality of opportunity entrenched in the recruitment practices of professions that hire in their own image," De Piero said.

More must be done to make sure work experience opportunities are given to "bright kids without connections", she said, praising the right-leaning Spectator magazine for doing this.

But she criticised the Conservative-led government for failing to act and auctioning off top internships to the highest bidder at its fundraisers.

The shadow minister said Labour must also look to itself to improve access at a time when half of MPs and peers went to fee-paying schools and 25 MPs out of 650 have worked in manual jobs.

But she added: "Look round the room: no other party can come close to representing the people of Britain in the way that we do … A Labour party led by Ed Miliband will increase the talent pool and bring more women, more ethnic minority, more disabled people of all experiences into politics."