The new Happy Mondays programme will focus on around 95 venues all over England. Each will offer a proportion of the free tickets for arts productions to anyone under 26. Attendance at national museums has been boosted by 98 per cent following the introduction of free entry.

Burnham said that about 300 councils  – more than 8 in every 10 in England – had signed up to make swimming free for over 60s and under 16s from April next year. He also confirmed a five-hour a week offer of sport.

He commented: "Culture has the power to change lives. But some people, especially young people, feel it is not for them and we want to change that. We have the best theatre in the world here in this country - and we want it to be accessible and available to everyone.

"This is the next stage in our journey of inspiring more people through sport and culture - free entry to museums, free swimming and now free theatre.

In 2002 Clubs for Young People partnered with the Millennium Commission to secure more than £1 million of Lottery money to engage more than 38,000 young people in the theatre and the performing arts through its Millennium Encore project .