The majoity of Catholics are pro same-sex marriage while the majority of Protestants are pro-euthanasia, a recent YouGov poll has found.

The new analysis of practising Christians in Britain looks at attitudes to ethical issues among the different faith groups. The overall picture is that the Christian population is more socially Conservative than the country as a whole, but not as much as one might expect.

50 per cent of British Catholics are in favour of same-sex marriage and only 40 per cent are opposed, according to the survey.

This is in contrast to the official teaching of the Catholic Church which opposes same-sex marriage and the practice of homosexuality.

59 per cent of British Protestants are in favour of some form of euthanasia for "clearly consenting terminally ill patients," compared to only 33 per cent who are opposed.

Similarly, this is different to the official teaching of the Church of England which is opposed to a change in the law to make any form of euthanasia or assisted dying legal.

However on the issue of abortion, both Protestants and Catholics were in line with their Church's teaching. Both religious Protestants and Catholics are decisively in favour of making restrictions more stringent.

69 per cent of Catholics and 56 per cent of Protestants say they are in favour of tighter restrictions on abortion compared to 29 per cent of the general public.

The survey was conducted on members of the YouGov panel who have identified as either Catholic or Protestant and strongly agree with the statement, "my faith is important to me."

863 Catholics and 1707 Protestants took part in the survey.