The number of people out of work and claiming benefit in Oxfordshire rose last month to 9,308 — up from 9,182 the previous month — or 2.3 per cent of the county's population.

Nationally, the number of people claiming benefit rose by 24,400 to 1, 602,189 or 4.2 per cent, the highest since May 1997.

The number of people unemployed in the UK, but not necessarily claiming benefit, rose to 2.47 million or 7.9 per cent of the working population.