These are the counties most likely to get you an Oxbridge offer

If you've ever encountered an Oxbridge student, you may have noticed a few things about them. Their peculiar dress sense, their tendency to arrive to pre-drinks at 7pm. But there's something else that most of them have in common – being from the Home Counties.

According to new data obtained by a Labour MP, Oxford and Cambridge may two elit be even posher than previously thought.

MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, asked the universities in a FOI request how many places they gave to students from different areas of the country.

Unsurprisingly, the stats revealed that 48% of offers to both unis were given to students from London and the South East, while Northern students got just 16% of places.

The counties with the most offers to Oxford were Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Kent, with Surrey being the most popular choice for Oxford dons.

Over at Cambridge, the counties where students were most successful were exactly the same, but Hertfordshire took the top spot.

More offers were given to students in these seven counties than the whole of Northern England. Areas with the fewest offers included places like North Wales, Lancashire and Tyneside.

Lammy accused the two elite universities of 'social apartheid' and said: "Oxbridge take over £800m a year from the taxpayer – paid for by people in every city, town and village.

"Whole swathes of the country – especially our seaside towns and the 'left behind' former industrial heartlands across the North and the Midlands are basically invisible.

"If Oxbridge can't improve, then there is no reason why the taxpayer should continue to give them so much money.

"Whilst some individual colleges and tutors are taking steps to improve access, in reality many Oxbridge colleges are still fiefdoms of entrenched privilege, the last bastions of the old school tie."

Oxford and Cambridge conceded that there were some geographical disparities in their offers. A spokesman from Oxford told the BBC: 'We absolutely take on board Mr Lammy's comments, and we realise there are big geographical disparities in the numbers and proportions of students coming to Oxford.

"On the whole, the areas sending few students to Oxford tend also to be the areas with high levels of disadvantage and low levels of attainment in schools.'

Cambridge was more unapologetic, with a spokesman saying that admission was based on academic standards alone. He said: "‘The greatest barrier to participation at selective universities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds is low attainment at school.