Labour’s Kate Green says Tories are aiming for equality at the same time their policies ‘embed and entrench inequality’

Labour MP describes how many students will be deterred from going to university altogether after Tories axed maintenance grants for the poorest students

Oxford has rejected the need for a change to its admissions rules following comments made by David Cameron (PA)

The Labour Party has described how the Tories are contradicting themselves after Prime Minister David Cameron highlighted plans to combat racial discrimination within Britain's top universities.

Kate Green MP, Labour’s shadow minister for women and equalities, welcomed Mr Cameron’s calls to force top universities to disclose the proportion of ethnic minority applicants being given places.

However, she said those from low income families would be put off going to university in the first place after the Tories axed maintenance grants for more than half a million of England’s poorest students, a move which would leave students facing high levels of debt upon graduation.

Ms Green added: “Once again, we see the Government stating high aims on equality while, at the same, time implementing policies which only serve to embed and entrench inequality.”

Writing in The Sunday Times, where he highlighted examples of discrimination within higher education, Mr Cameron said the figures “should shame our country and jolt us to action.”

Questioning the image modern-day Britain is portraying, he wrote: “Consider this: if you’re a young black man, you’re more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university.

“Only one in ten of the poorest white boys go into higher education at all. There are no black generals in our armed forces, and just four per cent of chief executives in the FTSE 100 are from ethnic minorities.”

The University of Oxford also responded to Mr Cameron’s comments after he described it as “striking” that Oxford’s 2014 intake of more than 2,500 included only 27 black students.

A spokesman for the institution said the university welcomed “discussions” about the information it publishes, however rejected the need for a change to the rules.

He insisted the university was doing well against “a challenging backdrop of changes to the educational landscape,” adding: “The effects of social inequality are already pronounced before children begin formal schooling, and universities, schools, and government must work together to address their root causes effectively.”