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SPEAKING OUT: Doreen Lawrence

THE MOTHER of murdered teen Stephen Lawrence has blasted the government's handling of race relations in the country.

Doreen Lawrence says ministers have turned their backs on equality measures, "particularly on stop and search," and risked returning Britain to a less tolerant society.

"Race is definitely not on the government's agenda,” she told The Guardian.

“They have done away with the stop-and-search recording. Even before they came in, they talked about changing things, particularly on stop and search; that they would do away with the forms and they have done that."

Stephen was 18 when he was murdered in Eltham, south east London, in 1993. His killers, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were only brought to justice in January this year - 19 years later. Both were given life sentences.

She added: "I don't really understand it because we all want a society in which we can live safely and live freely and to have police officers doing what they need to do on the street.

“But when it comes to race, they feel as if they are doing us a favour rather than doing what is right."

Last month Mrs Lawrence wrote to David Cameron, the Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and the other major party leaders, expressing her concern about moves to dilute a duty the government has to assess the impact of its policies on minorities.

Her letter was ignored, however, she said.

"With the new government in, the whole thing around race has changed completely."

“I wrote to him suggesting we could have a meeting to see what we have been doing over the years and to see how we could work together. He never replied to any of my letters; not once…That just shows to me that as far as they are concerned, if we have made any inroads, it wasn't important to them."

A Government spokesman said: "The government is committed to a fair society with equal treatment and equal opportunity. Dealing with racism is a key part of that commitment.

"We want to ensure public services meet our commitment to equal treatment, which is why we are reviewing whether the equality duty is operating as intended. This is about ensuring equality of treatment, not diluting protections."