The service, due to be held on Friday 3rd May, is invitation-only and will ‘recognise fifty years of continuous at sea deterrent’ according to Westminster Abbey’s website. 

The Royal Navy are planning a series of events to ‘celebrate’ the patrols of submariners since 1969. 

However, the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament states the event should not go ahead as it is at odds with the Church of England’s policy to “work tirelessly” for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

General Secretary for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Kate Hudson told Premier: “Many people feel that it’s absolutely inappropriate that weapons of mass destruction are being thanked for in a place of worship.

“Weapons of mass destruction are indiscriminate killers, if they were ever used that would be contrary to international humanitarian law.

“Hundreds of thousands if not millions of innocent civilians would be killed.”

The organisation says the government is also ignoring its obligations to the International Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – a treaty signed by the UK in 1968 agreeing to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons worldwide.

“Round about the time that these patrols came on the stream 50 years ago, Britain had also just signed up to the NPT saying that we would be getting rid of our nuclear weapons.

“And of course, we haven’t done that. And in fact, we’re now on to building our third nuclear weapons system.

“It shows that not only are we out of step with current…

The Labour peer raised her concerns around the availability of pupil places in secular settings.

Her comments met with a strong defence of faith schools from Lord Deben, the Tory former cabinet minister John Gummer, who said they were “extremely popular”.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Baroness Bakewell pointed out that 52% of British adults identified themselves as having no religion, while 53% of rural primary schools were faith schools.

She said: “Almost three in 10 families in England live in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools.

“So what has the Government to say about children effectively being forced into faith schools against their parents wishes?”

Education minister Lord Agnew of Oulton said: “Where parents are not offered a place for schools they expressed a preference for, the local authority must offer them a place at another suitable school with places available.”

He highlighted figures that showed 93% of parents got one of their first three choices of secondary school in 2018, and this rose to 97% for primaries.

Lord Deben said: “Faith schools are extremely popular, very often overcrowded because people want their children to go to faith schools.

“Faith schools are a product of the people who first started education in this country, and we ought to be very proud of the Catholic and Anglican schools which serve…

The process to select a jury to try Benjamin Field, 28, and Martyn Smith, 32, began at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday before High Court Judge Mr Justice Sweeney.

A panel of 27 potential jurors was whittled down to 21, of whom 12 will be sworn in to hear the case.

Field, a church warden, and Smith, a magician, deny involvement in the deaths of Peter Farquhar, 69, and Ann Moore-Martin, 83, who lived three doors away from each other in the picturesque village of Maids Moreton in Buckinghamshire.

Detectives launched a murder inquiry more than two years after the death in October 2015 of Mr Farquhar, a guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham, and seven months after the death of retired headmistress Ms Moore-Martin in May 2017.

Field and Smith deny charges of murdering Mr Farquhar and conspiracy to murder Ms Moore-Martin. Field also denies an alternative charge of attempting to murder Ms Moore-Martin.

The pair deny two charges of conspiracy to defraud and a single charge of possession of an article for use in fraud.

Field, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire, has pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud and two offences of burglary.

Smith, of Penhalvean, Redruth, Cornwall, denies three charges of fraud and two offences of burglary.

Tom Field, 24, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire, faces trial accused of a single charge of fraud.

The trial was…

The MP joined local residents to visit St Margaret’s Community Church on Highland Road, Eastney, when it recently opened its doors for the first time in more than three years after it was restructured and declared safe. 

After meeting architects who are drawing up plans to further refurbish the building, Mr Morgan said: “My grandparents were actually married in this church, but it’s the first time I’ve ever been inside.

“The building has huge potential to serve a part of our city that often gets forgotten.

“This has been a good opportunity to hear what local people are saying about the place of the church within their community.

“I take away a sense that this church can show compassion to meet the needs of local people, and I’m impressed by the way that the church is already reaching out to them. It has my full support.”

The church closed in 2015 because its roof leaked, its windows needed repairing, and there was a danger of plaster falling from the ceiling.

The relaunch of St Margaret’s Community Church is just one of several new worshipping communities being created in Portsmouth diocese as part of its ‘live, pray, serve’ strategy, which aims to deepen the faith of worshippers, help them to engage better with their local communities, and enlarge their congregations.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian…

The project, ‘One Voice’ led by Lawrence Johnson who founded London Community Gospel Choir, will help raise funds for development charity Tearfund, who are on the ground supplying emergency relief. 

Cyclone Idai struck the coastline of Mozambique on 14th March and left a trail of devastation and heavy loss of life. 

The UN has said 1.7 million people in Mozambique lived in the path of the cyclone, with a further 920,000 people affected in Malawi and many thousands more in Zimbabwe. 

Speaking on behalf of One Voice, Les Moir from the Christian record label Integrity Music, said: “Cyclone Idai came just before the harvest season and washed away crops that would have provided food for this year. 

“We’re partnering with Tearfund who are working closely with national partners to support the relief effort – delivering emergency shelter kits, food such as pulses and maize flour, water purification tablets, and urgent health assistance. 

“Tearfund’s immediate response has been on saving lives, but now as the flood waters recede and the extent of the damage is being realised, communities are beginning to think about how they will rebuild their lives.

“We want to help them rebuild and find the strength to carry on.” 

Meanwhile, tropical Cyclone Kenneth – the strongest storm to hit the region since records began -…