It will take 80 years to close the aspiration gap between rich and poor at the current rate of progress, the Government’s social mobility tsar has warned amid fears UK society is becoming increasingly defined as “us-and-them”.

Alan Milburn, chairman of the influential Social Mobility Commission, said “whole tracts of Britain feel left behind” and that divisions will “widen, not narrow” unless ministers change tack and set long term targets for tackling inequality.

A damning new report from the Commission analysing government efforts to bridge the gap between rich and poor under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May, found failings at every stage of a person's life.

Mrs May pledged when she became Prime Minister in 2016 to help everybody “go as far as your talents will take you” but the report shows the scale of the challenge she faces.