Video comment: Richard Ford

David Cameron and Gordon Brown have clashed in the House of Commons over who could appear tougher on street crime, hours after both trumpeted identical initiatives.

Mr Cameron accused Mr Brown of dithering and being unable to answer a straight question when he repeatedly demanded to know if the Prime Minister was going to abolish a "foot-long" form that police must fill in if they stop and search somebody in the street.

"I can only refer him to the Flanagan report which we accepted in November," retorted Mr Brown, prompting the Tory leader to demand: "Why doesn't he stop flannelling about the Flanagan report. Will he scrap the form?"

Mr Brown retaliated that "once again he has prepared his questions yesterday" and that the Government policy had already moved on.

The heated scrap had its origins yesterday, when the Conservative leader gave an interview to The Sun in which he said he wanted to abolish rules which prevent police officers from using stop and search powers on the streets without reasonable suspicion.

In high crime areas, officers should be able to intervene and question youths without obtaining authorisation from a police inspector, said Mr Cameron.

He admitted that the plan might anger ethnic minority groups - black youths are five times more likely to be stopped than whites - but said that it was an attempt to reduce the rising levels of knife crime which disproportionately victimises black and Asian youths.

"I know this is controversial but Britain has changed," said Mr Cameron.

"This is not about race. It's about stopping crime and reducing the number of victims of crime. The statistics are undeniable and it's clear by carrying out more stops and searches it is the black and Asian communities who will benefit the most."

Within hours, Downing Street was briefing the Daily Mirror on behalf of Mr Brown, saying that the Prime Minister too wanted to give police the power to stop and search youngsters without having to give a reason.

The Mirror reported: "Mr Brown has decided it is time to get tough on youngsters going armed in public. One source said: 'These powers have been operating successfully in areas designated hotspots for gun and knife crime. We now want them across the country to give the police the powers they need'."

The No 10 'source' who passed on the leaked policy predicted - as Mr Cameron had hours earlier - that the proposal would anger black and Asian communities who feared a return to the "sus" laws which provoked the 1981 Brixton riots.

It is unclear whether the Government or the Opposition thought of the policy first.

The Government's decision to leak its own version of the story to the Daily Mirror hours after the Cameron interview is likely to prompt comparisons with Mr Brown's politically unwise decision last summer to copy Tory policy on inheritance tax.

The opposite may however be the case. It is equally possible that the Conservatives have picked their moment to 'borrow' one of the Government's policy ideas, as stop and search has been under consideration by the Government for some months.

Last July, Mr Brown ordered a review of stop and search rules by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the former chief constable of the RUC, and the final Flanagan report is due to be published next Monday.

In preparation, the Cabinet discussed the issue at its meeting yesterday, and agreed a number of reforms to stop and search which Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, had been preparing to announce some time in the next fortnight - until Mr Cameron's interview appeared in early editions of The Sun, precipitating matters.

Philip Webster, Politics Editor of The Times, said that comparisons with the inheritance tax debacle were probably wrong.

"The Cabinet did discuss stop and search yesterday and therefore when a couple of newspapers rang the Government last night asking for a response to what Mr Cameron had said, the Government was able to respond immediately, saying: 'Well, actually, this is what the Cabinet discussed today, and this is exactly what we are doing'," said Mr Webster.

"It looks to me as if the Government got in first in terms of discussing it - and so the question is whether Mr Cameron had wind of what the Cabinet discussed yesterday. Who knew first?"

By the time Prime Minister's Questions took place today, the question was no longer who knew but who could appear more decisive and statesmanlike in presenting the policy as their own. Commentators said afterwards that it was probably a draw.

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