There are more black, Asian and minority ethnic youths in young offender institutions and secure units than white people for the first time, according to government figures.

The announcement comes as a Labour MP said that jurors favoured white, middle-class defendants. Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, made her comments after two schoolboys were acquitted of all charges in connection with the death of Yousef Makki, 17, a fellow pupil.

“You do have to ask if these defendants were black, at state school and from, say, Moss Side, whether they would have been acquitted,” she said.

Ms Powell said that recent academic and other research showed that “people suffer routinely from prejudice in the criminal justice system. The police, prosecution lawyers and judges are