These are the accents people think make you sound stupid

Working class graduates are being denied top jobs because they fail 'poshness tests', according to the government's Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

The research found employers are more likely to judge applicants based on their accent rather than their ability.

But according to Dr Lance Workman, of the University of South Wales, we are all guilty of discriminating against people based on how they talk - despite there being no correlation between intelligence and accent.

"I suspect it is the same as the perception of people with tattoos and body piercing. People assume they have a lower IQ when the literature shows they don’t," Dr Workman told the Times (£).

In Dr Workman's research he asked people to rate how intelligent female models were out of 10 by looking at their pictures while listening to a recording of them in different accents.

These were the average intelligence ratings given to people out of 10 in Dr Workman's research, with silent women being rated as more intelligent than those with a Brummie accent.

1. Birmingham 5.6
2. Silence 5.99
3. Received Pronunciation (e.g. the Queen's English) 6.67
4. Yorkshire 6.71

More: Could you pass the 'poshness test' to get a job in the City?