And Havant comes out worst, with almost 18 per cent of people lacking even a single basic qualification such as GCSE maths or English.

Today, former shadow education secretary David Willetts described the figures as shocking, and called for a turnaround.

The grim figures were published in a report by Havant Borough Council outlining statistics in the area.

The report places the Havant borough at the bottom of the league table in Hampshire, with 17.69 per cent of people without any qualifications, which include GCSEs, O Levels, national vocational qualifications and apprenticeship training.

Gosport has the second highest figure, with 15.01 per cent, of the working population without qualifications.

Portsmouth trails close behind at 13.47 per cent, placing it third in the Hampshire rankings.

The national average is 11.5 per cent.

Mr Willetts, MP for Havant, said: 'These are shocking figures. It shows that we have got to do better.

'We have very strong schools and colleges in the area, but we need to try even harder at getting young people to appreciate the importance of qualifications.'

Mr Willetts called for more modern apprenticeships to train people who did not want to stay on at college.

He said: 'It is a historical problem. Our problem is that for many years, young people went on to do apprenticeships at the dockyard, but we have lost that.

'One thing I am working on is how we can get more employers offering apprenticeships, because at the moment they are fighting against red tape.'

Education bosses at Havant Borough Council said the new £6m skills centre in Havant, due to open in 2010, would go some way to tackling the problem.

The Learning and Skills Council is building the centre in Fulflood Road, Leigh Park, and it will offer hundreds of vocational courses from hairdressing to plumbing.

Joy Okwuadigbo, Havant's head of regeneration, said: 'The national economy is demanding skilled labour because there is increasing competition from places like India and China, where people are highly-skilled.

'We have a historic problem in the area because people always used to learn on the job in the dockyards and didn't need qualifications.'

Councillor David Kirk, head of education in Hampshire, said more money should be driven into adult learning.

He said the problem was not in our schools, as currently around 98 per cent of pupils leave school with qualifications.

He said: 'We have got to make adult education more available and more responsive to people's needs.

'Unfortunately, it has always been the poor brother. Hopefully in 10 years' time these figures will be much better.'

jeff.travis@thenews.co.uk