CRIME will be reduced in Bolton - by the power of prayer, according to a new scheme launched by a Government minister.

In a speech at the Reebok Stadium last night, Hazel Blears, minister of state for the Home Office, said police and churches would work closely together in the future in a bid to slash crime rates.

And Debra Green, director of City Links, a Christian organisation which helped to put on the event, said: "We want to set up regular prayer cells across the North-west to pray for crime reduction and for their community to be transformed."

The audience were shown film clips about community programmes held in other parts of Greater Manchester. It showed how churches and groups had committed themselves to specifically praying to God for a decrease in crime - and that the numbers of crimes had actually dropped.

Mrs Blears was launching "Reedeeming Our Communities," a new initiative to regenerate North-west communities. It will see police, churches and communities forming partnerships.

The MP for Salford spoke to an audience of hundreds of people, including police officers, church leaders and company bosses. The Bishop of Bolton David Gillett was among them.

Mrs Blears said she wanted the message to go out to individuals that they can transform their communities. She added: "I am MP for Salford. It's a community where I was born and grew up and where I live. The problems I have seen in the past 30 years is enough to break my heart.

"I have seen crime, disorder, family breakdown, problems with drugs, and disintegration of the community.

"But what I have seen in the last 10 years is real change on the ground. It's nothing specifically the government has done. The transformation has come about because of the people who are there. The people who are determined it could be different."

She said crime rates were beginning to come down thanks to the work of police officers and also because of attempts to tackle the causes of crime.