Howard in race row

Michael Howard triggered a race row today after he vowed police under a Tory government would not record the ethnic background of people stopped and searched.

Black groups said the Conservative leader risked putting race relations back "decades" with his pledge to free police officers from the paperwork of "political correctness".

Mr Howard faced further embarrassment when the Metropolitan Police made clear it had no problem with the practice because it helped reassure black and Asian communities.

In a wide-ranging speech on law and order, the Tory leader also announced he would scrap electronic tagging of criminals. The early release scheme was introduced in 1999, but 3,500 crimes have been committed by tagged offenders, including nine serious sex crimes, he said.

All police officers are currently required to make a written-record every time they stop and search a suspected criminal. The practice was brought in after the Macpherson Inquiry, into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, said it was needed to root out racist police.

Black people are eight times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched. The number of Muslims stopped soared in the wake of September 11.

All the main political parties signed up to the Macpherson recommendations when they were produced in 1999, and the scheme is set to be expanded in London from this October.

This will mean every individual - including those who are stopped but not searched - will be given an official form showing their name, address and skin colour. The practice has already been tested in Hackney and Tower Hamlets and will be used nationwide from next April.

But Mr Howard said today that recording every stopped person was a needless burden on rank-and-file police officers, taking seven minutes per form.

"The police are being undermined by political correctness," he said in a speech in Middlesbrough. "They can only do their job properly if they are able to intervene, confront and take action against crime.

"Conservatives will support the police when it comes to stop and search and will not implement the Macpherson recommendation that police keep a record of every stop."

A spokeswoman for the Met, however, said the force believes the expanded scheme can help it "build on increased community confidence". Mr Howard's comments also brought swift reactions from the Muslim Council of Britain, a member of the original Macpherson Inquiry team and London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Dr Richard Stone, a GP who sat on the inquiry, said he was appalled at Mr Howard's remarks. The recommendation was made because "officers had for a long time got away with stopping people on the basis on their colour," he said.

Sadiq Khan, of the Muslim Council's legal affairs committee, said the speech "demonstrates that Michael Howard is simply paying lip service to good race relations".

Mr Livingstone warned that "a zero tolerance of crime regime" could only be achieved if the police "ensure they retain vital community support by treating all communities fairly".