Key Islamic figures from Bradford will meet the Trade Unions Congress boss as it calls on the Government to end poverty for Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

A new TUC report shows that people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are among the most deprived in the UK.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber will meet Bradford Muslims when he visits the Hamara Centre in Beeston, Leeds, on Tuesday to launch the report and call for Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh to be a major target for Government programmes to create jobs and end poverty and poor health.

Bradford has the second highest rate of people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin in the country, accounting for 17.5 per cent of the district's population.

According to the report, out of every 100 white people 20 live below the Government poverty line, compared to 69 out of every 100 Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

They are more likely to have no qualifications or have a limiting long-term illness than other groups and have the lowest employment rate (43 per cent) of any ethnic group.

President of the Bradford branch of the Islamic Society of Great Britain Maroof Shaffi will meet Mr Barber on Tuesday.

He said: "The report's findings are staggering. We are generally aware that people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are living below the poverty line in Bradford. Most of it is in the inner city. I do not think it's due to ethnicity. I think it is due to inner city problems.

"If you go to any inner city in England - it could be all white - you will find where there has been no Government investment, that population will fail to succeed. It can happen in any community. Poverty has become high for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi population because they are ghettoised.

"I think the vast majority are suffering from the typical urban problems of Britain and added to that is racism and Islamaphobia."

TUC regional officer Bill Adams, said: "The study reflects what's happening around the region, especially people who work in Bradford. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi community will be at the low paid and low skilled end of the margin as a percentage of the workforce.

"There are barriers to people who have newly arrived in the country such as language barriers and the usual prejudices."