They made a public declaration to ‘close the gap’ outside the Houses
of Parliament on Monday at the start of the annual Poverty and
Homelessness Action Week.
The declaration marked the launch of ‘Pledge to Close the Gap’,
Church Action on Poverty’s three-year campaign asking Christians to make
simple pledges to give, act and pray to end poverty in the UK.
The church leaders, who included the Anglican Bishop of Dudley the Rt
Rev David Walker and President-Designate of the Methodist Conference
the Rev Leo Osborn, handed over a joint letter to Prime Minister David
Cameron affirming their commitment to close the gap between rich and
poor and reminding the Coalition of its responsibility to do the same.
In the letter, they say that the poorest and most vulnerable “are
suffering the consequences” of the economic crisis and public spending
cuts.
“We understand the many pressures you are under, and that the
Coalition is committed to reducing the public deficit over the current
parliament. But tackling inequality is not something that can be put
off for the ‘good times’,” they say.
The letter then goes on to invite Mr Cameron and ministers in the
Coalition Government to make a public pledge to take action to close the
gap between rich and poor in the UK.
Bishop Walker said: “The God who meets us in Jesus, calls us to meet
and serve each other, yet the gap between the well off and poor has
become so wide that few bridge it. Unless we work to ‘close the gap’,
the vision of a Big Society will never get off the drawing board.”
The church leaders were joined by Kate Green MP and members of Church Action on Poverty.