Up to a quarter of young children are not vaccinated against measles in some parts of the country, official figures show.

Health officials urged parents to book jabs before children return to school, amid warnings that Britain has lost its “measles-free” status.

Experts said many outbreaks in this country were being fuelled by visits to European countries over the summer holidays.

Monthly figures show that across Europe, France has the highest number of cases, with 469 cases, followed by Bulgaria, Italy and Poland. Between them the four countries had more than 1,000 cases in June, while there were 33 in the UK.

Public Health England (PHE) warned that the disease was more likely to spread across the UK after holidays abroad, and when children return to school.

The figures show that across the country, one in seven five-year-olds have not had both MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines. This rises to one in four in London.

In total, this leaves around 90,000 children unprotected as they prepare to start school.

The number of people being vaccinated against the virus has steadily declined in recent years, while cases of measles have quadrupled in the last 12 months.

In the first quarter of this year, there were 231 confirmed cases.