Two United Reformed Church representatives were among a delegation of church policy officers, who met senior government advisers at 10 Downing Street.  Frank Kantor, secretary for Church and Society, and Simon Loveitt, who speaks for the URC on public issues, are pictured on the steps of Number Ten with Ed Cox, policy adviser to Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Simon Loveitt represents the URC on the management group of the Joint Public Issues Team, through which the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church and the URC work together.

Also present at the meeting were the Prime Minister’s policy adviser, Kirsty McNeill, special adviser at the Treasury, Graham Dale, and representatives of other Christian denominations across England, Scotland and Wales.

The Churches were encouraged to contribute to the national debate on current economic difficulties, particularly regarding the values that need to underpin recovery. The need for the Churches to establish a shared platform from which they can engage with government was also discussed.

Afterwards, Frank Kantor said: "Government is often criticised for not ‘doing God’ but the impression we gained was that Christian values are very important to the way the Prime Minister is thinking about the future. We were given a good hearing, and got the clear impression that government wanted to engage the churches on public policy issues. We were told repeatedly that we could raise issues of concern from a faith perspective, whenever we wanted to."