EAST Lancashire MPs Nigel Evans and Gordon Prentice have joined forces across the political divide to tackle Home Secretary Jack Straw on the need to recruit more coloured police.

Ribble Valley Tory Mr Evans asked Mr Straw to 'agree that we should do much more to encourage young black people and Asians to take up careers in the police force'.

He said recruiting officers should visit 'sixth forms, colleges and youth clubs to encourage young black people and Asians in particular to join the specials'.

Labour MP Mr Prentice asked Blackburn MP Mr Straw: 'What can we do to persuade more Asian women to join the police? Is there not a case for gender targets for officers drawn from ethnic minority communities?"

Mr Straw told Mr Evans that a fall in the number of specials dated from a Tory move shortly before the general election.

He said the government was trying to boost their numbers and revealed that in Lancashire the number of black and Asian police officers had risen by 50 per cent in the past four years from 33 to 49. The force was stepping up its recruiting efforts among ethnic minorities.

The Home Secretary told Mr Prentice one should not generalise about Asian women as there were cultural differences between Sikhs and Hindus and the Muslim community which did not encourage women to join uniformed services.

Mr Evans said: "Regular constables and specials in Lancashire had been declining and it is vital that we do all we can to reverse this. A renewed recruitment drive among the black and Asian communities will ensure that young black people and Asians will see the police force as an opportunity for them."

Mr Prentice said: "It is in everyone's interest to have a police service that looks like the community it serves. We've got to persuade young British Asian women that a career in the police is rewarding ."