Tony Blair praised the work of faith groups and religious organisations yesterday and said he wants them to play a bigger role in public service delivery.

Delivering a lecture at a Faithworks event, Mr Blair highlighted the benefits these groups bring and called on them to work together with government to ensure society’s needs are met.

He said: “I would like to see you play a bigger not lesser role in the future. I say this because of the visible, tangible difference you are making for the better in our society for so many people.”

He went on to pay tribute to the role played by churches and faith organisations in the campaign against international poverty and injustice and said that he will be making these issues a priority during international gatherings later in the year.

“I want to see a new partnership between rich and poor countries to improve governance, reduce conflict, increase aid, make trade fairer and cancel debts to support the developing world,” he said. “This will be a top priority for me personally at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in July, in Britain’s presidency of the European Union from July, at the UN Summit in September and at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong in December.”

Tony Blair’s lecture followed similar addresses given by Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy earlier this year. All three speeches can be viewed via www.faithworks.info until August 2005.