A call for Christians to come forward and offer themselves as candidates at the next General Election was made this weekend by leaders of the Christian Peoples Alliance.

Meeting in London this week to review the European election results, the CPA Federal Council decided that the party would contest the next General Election, which must be called by June 2010.

Addressing EU candidates and party supporters from across England, CPA leader Cllr Alan Craig said: "All over the country, the public are looking to support politicians committed to
bringing truth and integrity to Westminster.

"It has been thrilling to see Christian community activists approaching the CPA about their hopes to stand for Parliament. We have decided to widen the appeal for more to come forward because historically Christians have always been at the heart of social and political renewal.

"This is a moment of opportunity to change politics as we have known it."

The CPA has been working for over a decade to establish Christian democracy as a British electoral option. The Times this month said that the CP-CPA alliance were "key winners" of the European elections among smaller parties. The CPA said it now intends to turn the hard work of Christians in their communities into a stronger political presence by contesting the general election and also local government elections next year.

Cllr Alan Craig, who leads the opposition on Newham Borough Council, said that the hard work of Christians at grassroots level "will have given them the credibility the public are looking for".

"This spirit of sacrificial service in the love of their neighbours is the distinctive difference that they can offer," he said. "As a party, the CPA will be drawing such activists together to run on a platform of cleaning up politics, tackling growing social inequality, facing up to the secular fundamentalist threat to religious freedom and renewing the Christian contribution to public life."

A poll in the Metro newspaper by Harris/METRO in June found that 29 per cent of the electorate plan to vote for smaller parties at the next general election.