A petition calling upon the Government to maintain the existing definition of marriage has notched up 15,000 signatures just one day after it was launched.

The petition was launched yesterday by the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) in opposition to the Government's attempts to redefine marriage to include gay unions.

The coalition has the support of MPs and church leaders, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey.

The Government is due to begin its consultation on the introduction of same-sex marriage next month and has indicated its support for the change.

A poll conducted by ComRes for C4M has found that the majority of people in Britain (51%) want the existing definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman to remain.

Only a third (34%) said they supported the proposed change.

C4M's chairman Colin Hart said: “None of the main political parties said in their manifestos that they would make this massive cultural change.

"It is politically dishonest of the Government to declare that the consultation will be about the mechanics of the change instead of the principle.

“Has there ever been a worse case of aggressive political correctness being imposed by stealth?”

On the web: c4m.org.uk