THREE in four people believe that the UK has become less of a Christian country over the past five years, a new poll has suggested.

Seventy-three per cent of those questioned said that they agreed that Britain had lost some part of its Christian heritage and culture since 2010. Just 15 per cent disagreed.

The poll was commissioned by Christian Concern at the end of March. It found that people were more split on whether Britain's Christian heritage still mattered.

Forty-seven per cent said that it continued to bring benefits to the country; 32 per cent (including one fifth of those who identified as Christians) said that the UK's Christian heritage was "largely outdated".

In the poll, 55 per cent of respondents agreed that Easter was still primarily a Christian festival; but 33 per cent preferred the statement: "In modern Britain, Easter is rightly more about having two bank holidays together rather than anything religious." Even 18 per cent of Christians agreed.

Christian Concern said that the poll also showed how the public backed their campaigns to support "Christian freedoms". Sixty-six per cent of those surveyed, including 80 per cent of Christians, agreed that the right to wear Christian symbols while at work should be protected by law.

Andrea Williams, Christian Concern's chief executive, said that ensuring legal protection for Christians should be a key issue in the election. "Political leaders have ducked their responsibility to defend Christians over the last five years, yet now they want Christians' votes."

Farage on HIV. The leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, has defended his claim, made during the televised leaders' debate last week, that thousands of foreigners with HIV arrived in the UK for free treatment.

Putting your own family and community first, ahead of treating others, was a "sensible Christian thing" to do, Mr Farage said.

When questioned by Sky News, he said: "What good Christian would say to an 85-year-old woman 'You can't have breast cancer treatment because we can't afford it,' whilst at the same time shovelling a billion pounds on foreign aid, allowing people from all over the world to fly into Britain as health tourists?"