Ian Blair: Affirmative action is 'yesterday's solution'

The idea of favouring black and ethnic minorities when recruiting for the police force has been dismissed by Metropolitan Police commission Sir Ian Blair.

The suggestion was made by the president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) last night during the organisations annual conference in Bristol.

Sergeant Keith Jarrett argued the case for affirmative action was strong in the UK, as minorities are still under-represented in the police force.

In the speech last night, Mr Jarrett argued biasing recruitment to favour black officers would improve relations between the force and minority communities who want, according to him, to see uniformed faces which "look like them".

But Met chief Sir Ian Blair today rejected the argument, insisting black and ethnic minority recruits had increased from 17 per cent to 24 per cent in the last year alone.

Sir Ian ruled out affirmative action conclusively, saying: "I'm against it. I think it's yesterday's solution."

He went on: "It's so fraught with difficulties, there must be another option.

"The only way we're going to persuade groups of people to join the police service is by giving them a decent standard of service and have a natural stake in it."

But Keith Jarrett, president of the NBPA claimed the existing status quo – where affirmative action is illegal under the Race Relations Act – will not achieve parity.