British MPs have called for an independent review of the London Metropolitan Police's use of stop and search powers amid evidence that Irish and black people living in north London are more than twice as likely to be stopped as other people.
Research in Islington found that Irish people were the most likely to be targeted by police. Some 14.3 per cent of Irish people in the study had been stopped and searched, followed by 12.8 per cent of Afro-Caribbeans. By contrast, only 5.8 per cent of white people from England, Scotland and Wales were targeted.
The report, by Prof Jock Young, head of the Centre for Criminology at Middlesex University, said that at the same time as showing racial discrimination, the number of stops and searches was "shooting up", but the number of people being arrested as a result of the searches was declining.