LANCASHIRE’S church leaders have united to call for voters to reject ‘racist’ parties in the local and general elections.

They said people should shun the British National Party, the English Defence League and the National Front and ‘similar organisations’.

Under the banner of the group Churches Together in Lancashire, the leaders issued a joint statement.

Bodies involved in the group include the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, The United Reformed Church, The Methodist Church and The Baptist Union.

The statement, which will be read at the county’s churches this weekend, names the three parties and appeals to ‘all people of goodwill’.

It says: “We encourage people to vote in such a way as to prevent racist political parties making any more electoral gains.

"Indeed to out-vote such parties where they have already been elected.

“There is no place in main-stream British politics for div-iding people on the grounds of ethnicity.

“The racist ideology of parties like the BNP, who speak of a ‘traditional British genotype’ is not only inaccurate and misguided but is also contrary to our belief that ‘all people are created in the image of God’.

“Any further support for the BNP and similar racist parties could seriously undermine the patient, strategic work of healthy race relations which has been developing in the UK over many years.”

The statement says Britain ‘can be proud of its status as a world leader in multi-culturalism, a status which is expressed in churches and communities across the country.’

The church leaders will stress they are not endorsing any political party, adding that priorities for politicians included housing, immigration, unemployment ‘and the sheer speed of social change in some of our white working-class communities’.

The statement says: “Remember ing that Our Lord came to minis-ter among the poor and disadvantaged, we would urge you to question candidates about their commitment to the vulnerable and those on the margins of society.

“We all have a responsibility to work for a more just society, which will never be achieved by those who seek to divide our society based on racist politics.”

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