New figures showing four fifths of workers in some regions of Britain earn less than the average weekly wage showed the "upstairs-downstairs" nature of Britain.

This is what a leading union said today.

An analysis of earnings figures by the GMB showed 63 per cent of British workers were on less than the average wage of £460 a week, rising to 71 per cent in Wales.

The figures showed Cornwall topped the league of low-earners, with average pay of £348 a week and 83 per cent taking home less than the national average.

Other low earning regions included Torbay (81 per cent below the national average), Tameside (80 per cent) and Blackburn and Darwen (80 per cent).

The area where fewest workers earned less than the average was the City of London (19 per cent), followed by the London areas of Tower Hamlets and Southwark (both 30 per cent), Hammersmith and Fulham (37 per cent) and Camden, Westminster and Islington (all 39 per cent).

Paul Kenny, a candidate in the election for GMB general secretary, said: "Nothing illustrates the upstairs-downstairs nature of contemporary Britain better than these figures.

"Private sector male managers and professionals are getting more than their fair share compared with almost all public sector workers, manual men and nearly all women in the private sector.

"The tax system must be used to correct this imbalance."