People's religious beliefs provide a good marker of their voting habits, according to new data.

A compilation of survey results since the 1950s by religious think tank Theos found broad trends in religious people's political allegiances.

The survey partially confirmed the stereotype of the Church of England being the 'Tory party at prayer', with Anglicans typically voting Conservative and Catholics voting Labour.

Those Anglicans least likely to regularly attend church were most likely to vote Labour, although this changed in 2010.

Data for other religions was less clear because of the smaller samples, but the study found that in the 2010 election Muslims mostly voted Labour while Jews mostly voted Tory.

Hindus tended to led Labour their support, while Sikhs were evenly split.

Buddhists disproportionately voted for the Liberal Democrats.

The poll showed that those people who attended religious services most frequently were more sympathetic to the welfare system, even if it meant higher taxes.