A police chief has doubled down on his "racist" recruitment policy demanding the legalisation of "positive discrimination" against white British applicants.
Chief Constable John Robins has regularly pushed for the law to be changed to favour ethnic minorities in West Yorkshire Police - urging other forces to follow suit across the country.
Last week, the organisation temporarily blocking applications from white British candidates in an effort to boost the force's diversity.
And now, inn defence of the constable's force, a spokesman for Robinstold the Daily Mail: "The Chief Constable's position has not changed. It is a national view that he holds."
A police chief has doubled down on his "racist" recruitment policy demanding the legalisation of "positive discrimination" against white British applicants
West Yorkshire Police
WYP's recruitment process has sought to prevent white British candidates from applying for jobs as recruits to its police constable entry programmes, while allowing "under-represented" groups to submit their applications early.
Tory MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston told The Telegraph: "What West Yorkshire police are doing with their racist hiring policies and division of different ethnic groups is skirting the edge of the law.
"It is no surprise to discover they have been pushing for the law to be changed to legalise these racist hiring policies.
"With gun crime in West Yorkshire at a record high, many people might think local police might have more important things to be focusing on."
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Positive discrimination - gives certain candidates from specific groups preferential treatment over others - is not currently legal across England and Wales.
The police force's current policy has sparked concerns that white British candidates are being unfairly treated, potentially amounting to a form of positive discrimination which could be unlawful.
Earlier this week, ex officers alleged that the force was running a "hidden" recruitment policy to boost representation of certain groups within the organisation.
A whistleblower, who was heavily involved in sifting job applications, told The Telegraph that black and far east Asian candidates were given a "gold" ranking, followed by those of south-east Asian origin in the "silver" tier.
The police force's current policy has sparked concerns that white British candidates are being unfairly treated (Stock)
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"White others", including Irish and eastern European backgrounds, were classified as "bronze".
However, a WYP spokesman denied the claim and argued that the support offered to candidates - regardless of gold, silver or bronze structure - was offered to all candidates, regardless of their ethnicity.
The whistleblower reported to senior officers that "the pipeline for anyone white British is strangled, whilst anyone not white British is ushered through".
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "The most recent census found that 23 per cent of people in West Yorkshire identified as being from an ethnic minority background. Our current police officer representation is around nine per cent."
He added that their use of Positive Action under the Equality Act 2010 was recently reviewed by inspectors and "no issues were identified".
