A third (32 per cent) of MPs in the new House of Commons were privately educated, according to new research from the Sutton Trust.

In its paper, entitled Parliamentary Privilege - the MPs 2015, the charity noted that this a small improvement compared to 2010 (35 per cent went to a fee-paying school).

Approximately one in ten MPs that were privately educated went to Eton; 89 per cent went to university; 26 per cent went to Cambridge or Oxford; and 28 per cent went to other Russell Group universities.

The analysis also showed that 49 per cent of MPs went to a comprehensive school, while 19 per cent went to a grammar school.

However, while this is an improvement, nevertheless, MPs are still four times more likely to have been privately educated.

“The makeup of the House of Commons may have changed a lot this week but the members of the new house show little change from those who preceded them in one significant respect: where they went to school and university,” commented Dr Lee Elliot Major, chief executive of the Sutton Trust.

”If parliament is truly to represent the whole nation, the best people should be able to become MPs, regardless of social background.

“Today’s figures remind us how important it is that we do more to increase levels of social mobility and make sure that bright young people from low and middle income backgrounds have access to the best schools and the best universities.”

The research showed that 48 per cent of Conservative MPs went to fee-paying schools. In comparison, 17 per cent of Labour MPs, 14 per cent of Liberal Democrat MPs and five per cent of SNP MPs were privately educated.