The BBC should be legally required to treat religion on a par with politics, sport or drama, the Archbishop of Canterbury is to say.

In a speech in London on Wednesday the Most Rev Justin Welby will call for the corporation’s new charter to include a specific protection for religious programming.

A recent Government White Paper includes calls for the BBC to be required to reflect the “diversity” of the British Isles.

But in a speech at the annual Sandford St Martin awards for religious broadcasting at Lambeth Palace, he will call for it to be required to treat faith issues with “the same seriousness as other genres like sport, politics, economics or drama”.