The leader of the opposition, William Hague, will today make an attack on the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence for a collapse in police morale and a rise in street crime.

In what is billed as Hague's most important law and order speech since becoming Tory leader, he will pledge that a Tory government would support the police in the use of stop and search powers to curb muggings and other crime, powers "stripped away" by a "liberal elite" which never trusted the police. The Independent reports that the speech is guaranteed to infuriate race relations workers and ethnic minority groups.

An internal Home Office report by the former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality reveals that racism remains rife in the police, according to an FT report.