TV PRESENTER Lorraine Kelly has called for more working-class voices in the media, warning that “if you’re only going to hear elite opinions, we’re never going to get anywhere.”

Ms Kelly, who recently celebrated 40 years in TV, made the remarks on BBC Radio Four’s Desert Island Discs.

The Glasgow-born presenter spoke of being “crushed” when told her working-class Scottish accent blocked a BBC career, before being hired for TV-AM by an Australian, who did not recognise it.

She said: “I really worry about working-class people not being given the opportunity that I had.

“We talk about diversity, quite rightly; but there’s a whole raft of working-class people of all colours, all creeds, all religions, who are being left behind.

“And that all comes down to money, because these kids cannot afford to come to London, to live in London, because it’s impossible for them to do that.

“And therefore they can’t get the jobs that they absolutely should be allowed to do.

“You have to hear these voices because that’s what our country is made up of. And if you’re only going to hear elite opinions we’re never going to get anywhere, or whoever can shout the loudest on social media: we end up in an appalling state.”

Referring to cutbacks at ITV which will see her programme shortened next year, she told host Lauren Laverne: “I have been through so many regime changes in my life. For me this is just another one, but it’s seismic.

“We’re hoping that we can save as many jobs as we can, that’s the aim right now.”