The official launch of St Francis at the Engine Room on the new Hale Village housing development in Tottenham Hale was also attended by local MP David Lammy.

Priest Missioner at the church, Fr Andrew Williams said: “After four years working from our temporary space it is wonderful to move into our permanent home, a community centre and church from which to base our work in the wider community of Tottenham Hale.”

The congregation, which has grown to 500 weekly attendees since the church was founded in 2013, had been meeting at the old Engine Room community centre in Hale Village.

Rt Revd Rob Wickham, the Bishop of Edmonton said: “I am delighted to see that God’s vision for Tottenham has a new face, a fact made possible by years of hard work from the parishioners of St Francis at the Engine Room, London City Mission and a host of partners.

“St Francis is a shining example of God’s desire for all Londoners to flourish, and one that will inspire many imitators as we continue to love and serve through worship, prayer, listening and play, energised by the good news of Jesus Christ.”

St Francis forms part of the Diocese of London’s strategy to create 100 new churches in 2020 and is one example of how church leaders are keen to explore opportunities to create churches alongside new housing developments.

Martina Kwapong, Church Community Worker at St Francis at the Engine Room, said: “St Francis at the Engine Room has become a busy place for making friends and…

Mrs Maguire, 61, was stabbed to death by 15-year-old Will Cornick at Corpus Christi Catholic College, in Leeds, in April 2104.

A jury at Wakefield Coroner’s Court returned a conclusion of unlawful killing on Wednesday.

The jury added: “Overall communication leading up to the incident was inadequate.

“There were missed opportunities to share and record problem behaviour. “

It also said: “The safeguarding policy was not followed as no ’cause for concern’ was recorded around the pupil’s use of alcohol.”

The Houses of Parliament, Lambeth Palace, Westminster Cathedral and nine cathedrals around the country will all be floodlit red to show solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world.

People wanting to show support for Aid to the church in Need (ACN) and Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s #RedWednesday campaign also joined in by wearing red.

A red double-decker bus visited iconic landmarks and places of worship across London as part of the campaign.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) told Premier why the charity decided to back the campaign.

He said: “We immediately recognised that this was a very simple idea but actually could have great impact to raise awareness for the problem there is around the world, which sadly, the media and general public know very little about.”

The campaign follows ACN’s recent study called ‘Persecuted and Forgotten’ which revealed that Christianity is on the brink of being wiped out in certain countries.

John Pontifex, who co-authored the Christian study, told Premier aboard the bus why the colour red is so significant.

He explained: “In church services, red is associated with the blood of those who suffer for their faith.

“So we think of those people who’ve given their lives … being executed, or being stoned to death.

Father Aphram Ozan from the…

The highlights of the budget include: 

• Getting rid of stamp duty first-time buyers on properties up to £300,000
• At least £44 billion of capital funding, loans and guarantees to support the housing market.
• Plans to hike road tax for diesel cars
• £3 billion to prepare for Brexit
• £1.5 billion package to cut the waiting period for Universal Credit payments

Andrew Selous, Conservative MP for South West Bedfordshire, told Premier several announcements pleased him.

He said: “The reduction of stamp duty for young people, the extra £ 44 billion going into building all the houses we need, boosting the national living wage, these are all much needed things.”

However, there was some criticism of the budget.

Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, told Premier this is still a worrying time for the UK economy because business investment, growth forecast and productivity are down.

He added: “Apart from tax allowances there was nothing for struggling families at all.

“We want to see investment through local authorities into local services.

“We want to see very decisive action taken on public sector pay and there was nothing there about public sector pay apart from a review into the pay of nurses.

Listen to Andrew Selous speaking with Premier’s Alex Williams here:

Listen to Alex Cunningham speaking with Premier’s Cara Bentley here: