Jess Phillips

A Birmingham MP's has said her accent has been her " greatest gift" after A Survey found almost half of UK workers had been mocked for theirs.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 's Today show, Yardley MP Jess Phillips hailed her Brummie accent and encouraged others to be proud of theirs.

She was joined by broadcaster Adrian Chiles , who hails from Quinton, Who Said his accent was an " advantage".

The survey forms part of The Accent Bias in Britain project.

The research was carried out by Professor Devyani Sharma from Queen Mary University London and funded by Sutton Trust .

It, while those with northern English or Midlands accents were more likely to worry about The Way they spoke.

An entrenched " hierarchy of accent" caused Social Anxiety throughout Some People 's lives, The Report concluded.

" When I was A Kid , my dad warned us we wouldn't be taken seriously because my vowel sounds were very Brummie, " Ms Philips said.

" You still get this assumption that we go down the mines or I work in a car factory because of The Way I sound. "

She said one of her main roles as an MP was to communicate with regular People , adding that her accent meant they often felt she understood their situations.

Mr Chiles meanwhile urged People to " be yourself".

While acknowledging he might have subconsciously moderated his Brummie vowels over The Years to make them more " acceptable" He Said speaking " clearly" was far more important than People 's accents.

" I have found it To My advantage in Life . . People always underestimated me. They hear a Brummie accent and they think you're thick, " He Said .

" People 's expectations were always very low.

" It meant I had to do relatively little to impress them. I only had to string together three coherent sentences and People looked at me As If I was Stephen Hawking . "

Source of news: bbc.com