BLACK people living in Lancashire are equally as likely to be stopped and searched as white people, according to government statistics.

Lancashire is close to the bottom of a ‘disproportionality ratio’ table of forces.

Contrastingly, black people in Hampshire are more than five times as likely to be stopped than white people.

The figures, from a review by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, also showed that 1.3 Asian people are stopped by police for every one person in Lancashire.

Some forces have said the figures don't reflect the complexity of the problem, but the EHR commission has warned forces could face legal action if the proportionality doesn’t improve.