MP's plea to young blacks

Labour rising star David Lammy warned today "poverty of ambition" is blighting the lives of young black Britons.

He claimed a whole generation was at risk of turning away from education and towards gangs, crime and "bling bling materialism". But he also admitted the Government had not done enough for deprived inner cities.

Mr Lammy, 32, is one of Britain's most prominent black politicians, a government minister seen as Blairite. He was brought up in a single-parent family before going on to Harvard, a legal career, and Westminster. Giving the annual Stephen Lawrence Memorial Lecture tonight, he said: "It is poverty of ambition that leads young black people to say 'university is not for me'."