FIGURES for anti-Semitic attacks will be recorded by the police for the first time thanks to a Parliamentary report.

Chingford and Woodford Green MP Iain Duncan Smith was one of the 14 MPs who launched the report calling for action to combat the rise of anti-Semitism.

Among other things, the report calls for police across Britain to adopt the Metropolitan Police's model of categorising attacks as both racist and anti-Semitic, and Mr Duncan Smith told the Guardian that this was going to be adopted thanks to the report.

The MP added: "In this climate it is perverse that not all police forces record anti-Semitic incidents. This must not be tolerated. If we are to reverse the trend of rising anti-Jewish attacks, it is vital that we have a complete picture of the problem.

"Today we are calling on the Home Office to require all police forces across the UK to follow the example of the Metropolitan Police by recording these incidents as both racist and anti-Semitic.

"In some parts of the country, police forces verge on the complacent in their response to this issue. There can be no room for this in our society, particularly not from the police who have such an important role to play."

He added that while anti-Semitism was considerably worse in some European countries the British should not fall asleep when adressing this problem.