The roots of social exclusion lay in educational failure, Mr Blunkett told the European Social Policy Forum in Brussels, Belgium.

In his keynote address to his audience of social policy makers, Mr Blunkett said: "We cannot afford social exclusion in Europe, it generates huge costs in the form of crime, ill-health, welfare dependency, social breakdown and dislocation."

But tackling exclusion meant intervening before adulthood.

"In the United Kingdom many of the problems of social exclusion start in the school years. When the education system fails young people it sows the seeds of criminality, drug taking, unemployment and all the other forms of marginalisation from society," the Education Secretary said.

On deprived estates a quarter of children leave school without GCSEs

"Educational failure reinforces social exclusion. This emphasises the key importance of creating a more dynamic economy with high levels of educational achievement."

Mr Blunkett gave the forum examples of exclusion and its consequences for society as a whole. In the United Kingdom, 68% of school-age children sentenced for criminal offences had either been excluded from school or have persistently failed to attend school.

Four in ten street robberies and a third of burglaries in London were committed by children aged 10 to 16 - mostly during school hours.

In response to this problem, Mr Blunkett said, "governments across Europe are now showing great imagination and determination in seeking new solutions."

In the United Kingdom, he pointed to the launch of Education Action Zones as an attempt to tackle educational failure, and in France he praised the "fresh start" programme designed to help young job-seekers.

Europe-wide 'social action plans' proposed

Such innovation was vital to government attempts to prevent exclusion, he argued.

We need to re-invent government if we are going to transform the culture in disadvantaged communities. We need to re-think fundamentally how we develop and deliver social policies to tackle multiple disadvantage."

Another proposal to prevent exclusion floated by Mr Blunkett was to create "social action plans", which could set Europe-wide targets to promote social inclusion. This would parallel the existing employment action plan.

Failure to successfully reduce social exclusion posed long-term dangers to the European Union, he said.

"No society can survive and prosper if it marginalises or excludes a minority of its citizens."