PRIVATE schools should be ditched as they increase odds already stacked against children of poorer families, ex-miners’ union leader Arthur Scargill has said.

The Socialist Labour Party leader has also called for a £12 minimum wage subsidised by the banks.

Mr Scargill, 75, said: “We should abolish all private schools such as Eton, Harrow and Westminster because they are an elite which gives a better education because of the more money that is pumped into them.”

To send a youngster to Eton costs £34,434 a year, which is more than the average British salary.

Faith schools should also be eradicated as they “are a breeding ground for prejudice and intolerance,” Mr Scargill told 80 supporters on Tuesday at a working men’s club in Aberavon, Wales, as he launched his party’s manifesto.

“If Muslims, Buddhist, Catholics or Protestants can go to university together then they can go to school together,” he added.