FORMER Darlington MP Alan Milburn, who head the Social Mobility Commission, has quit - along with the entire board -in protest at the lack of progress towards a "fairer Britain".

This morning Ministers inisted the Government is committed to tackling inequality.

In his resignation letter, Mr Milburn, who was Labour MP for Darlington from 1992 to 2010, said the preoccupation with Brexit meant the Government "does not have the necessary bandwidth to ensure the rhetoric of healing social division is matched with the reality.

 "I have little hope of the current Government making the progress I believe is necessary to bring about a fairer Britain."

The independent body was created in 2010 to carry out research in to social mobility and to advise ministers, at their request, with advice on how to improve mobility. It also works to promote social mobility in England among groups including employers and the educations sector.

The former Secretary of State for Health quit alongside his three fellow commissioners, including the Conservative former cabinet minister Baroness Shephard.

The resignations are a major setback for Theresa May who entered No 10 promising to tackle the "burning injustices" that hold back poorer people.

Downing Street said the departures came after Mr Milburn - whose term as commission chairman expired last July - was told that a new chairman was to be appointed and that an open application process would be held for the role.

In his resignation letter, Tow Law-born Mr Milburn added: "It (the Government) seems unable to commit to the future of the commission as an independent body or to give due priority to the social mobility challenge facing our nation."

Appearing on BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show this morning, Mr Milburn said his reappointment for a second term was backed by Education Secretary Justine Greening but she had failed to prevail in Whitehall.

"I have decided I am not going to reapply for the job and frankly neither are the other three commissioners," he said.

"There is only so long you can that you can go on pushing water uphill.

"What is lacking here is meaningful political action to translate very good words into deeds. In the end what counts in politics is not what you talk about, it is what you do.

"What is needed is really clear leadership to translate perfectly good words into actions that will make a difference."

Ms Greening refused to be drawn on whether she had fought for Mr Milburn's reappointment.

"He has done a fantastic job but his term had come to an end. I think it was about getting some fresh blood into the commission," she told The Andrew Marr Show.

Ms Greening denied the Government lacked the will to tackle inequality, but admitted that more needed to be done.

"What we are doing is a transformational series of policies across government to drive equality of opportunity," she said.

"In my own area, we have set up opportunity areas working inside and outside schools in communities to improve education results. If you look at the school standards overall they are continuing to rise."

She added, however: "I think there is a real problem that we need to fix. Britain is not a country where we have equality of opportunity. Where you grow up affects your future far too much. This is a generational challenge."