The Government has failed to narrow the gap between rich and poor, leaving class divisions as wide as they were 30 years ago, research has suggested.

By the age of seven, bright children from poor homes will be overtaken academically at school by less gifted pupils with the wealthiest parents, according to the report from the London School of Economics.

The report, undertaken for the Sutton Trust education charity, warned that today's children face "stark inequalities".

"Parental background continues to exert a significant influence on the academic progress of recent generations of children," the report said.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, called for an independent inquiry into how to break down the UK's rigid class barriers.

He said: "Shamefully, Britain remains stuck at the bottom of the international league tables when it comes to social mobility."

Earlier this year, the then Education Secretary Alan Johnson said the Government's reforms since 1997 meant poor children were likely to have "a much better chance to escape the limitations of their background". The report cast doubt on this claim.

The study found 44% of young people from the richest fifth of the population qualified with a university degree in 2002. But only 10% from the poorest fifth of households graduated from university.

Children from the poorest fifth of households who score some of the best results in tests aged three have fallen behind by the age of five. By the time they are seven, these youngsters will have been overtaken by the pupils from the wealthiest homes who came bottom in the tests aged three.

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