Attempts to divide the UK after Wednesday's terrorist attack 'will not succeed', a senior Labour MP and chair of Christians on the Left has said.

Jonathan Reynolds, shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, told Christian Today that far-right politicians 'will simply bring people together' if they try and use the violence to stoke fear.

He stressed a message of 'love and of unity' and said already people were trying to use the attack to further their own political ends.

'They will fail. They will simply bring people together. It simply brings people closer together,' he said.

'They will not succeed because they can't ever let them succeed.'

Reynolds was caught up in the attack on Parliament with his two-year-old son but was unharmed.

Speaking to Christian Today he went on to call on Christians to lead in uniting those scared after the biggest terrorist attack in the UK in more than a decade. He said Christians must stress the 'message of love and of compassion, of Jesus' today.

'I think Christians have a particular understanding of what it is to have a message of love and tolerance and bringing communities together.

'In many parts of the world where there has been conflicts it is Christians and Christian beliefs and Christian communities that are instrumental in bridging that divide and bringing people together..

'We have a message of reassurance,' he told Christian Today.

'It is about modelling your own behaviour. That is what Christians bring more than anything else.

'It is a message of love and compassion, the message of Jesus, that is what they have got to stress today.'

Reynolds was speaking as UKIP head Paul Nuttall told Christian Today the government should look into Saudi funding of mosques in response to the terror attack.