Thaindian News

London, Aug 18 (IANS) At least six out of 10 Britons who attend church services regularly say they are less likely to vote for the Conservative party in the next elections because of the government’s plans to support same-sex marriage.

Support among churchgoers for Labour and the Liberal Democrats was also damaged by the parties’ stance on the gay marriage question but the biggest impact was on the Conservatives, the Telegraph reported.

The ComRes poll, which questioned people who attend church once a month or more, found 58 percent said they were less likely to vote Conservative as a result of the policy.

Just over one in 10 said it made no difference because they would still vote Tory. But a further 25 percent said it would have no effect because they would not support the party anyway.

At least 43 percent said they were put off supporting the Lib Dems and 27 percent were deterred from voting for Labour, which supports the change.

When broken down by denomination, 68 percent of the polled Roman Catholics, 47 percent of Anglicans and 72 percent of Pentecostals, said they were less likely to support the Tories.

As many as 7.6 million adult Britons attend church at least once a month, and almost five million go every Sunday.

A consultation on plans to legalise civil weddings for homosexual couples was carried out earlier this year. It attracted about 100,000 submissions from the public, the biggest for any government exercise.

The poll for the Coalition For Marriage (C4M) found that 86 percent of churchgoers believe attempts to exempt churches from carrying out same-sex marriages could not be relied upon.