Parliament Police: MPs get debate on Lawrence inquiry

THE STEPHEN Lawrence inquiry will be subject of a full-day debate, the Commons leader Margaret Beckett announced yesterday. MPs will debate Sir William Macpherson's damning report, which accused the Metropolitan Police of institutional racism, on 29 March.

The Government, notably the Home Secretary Jack Straw, is likely to come under attack after a list of police informants were included by mistake in the report, many of whom will have to be re-housed as a result. Mr Straw attracted further criticism when his deputy, Paul Boateng, gave a Commons statement on the matter because he was in France on "private business".

There was also criticism over an earlier leak of the inquiry's conclusions and by the reversal after 24 hours of an injunction to gag the media.