VOTERS from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency will join 10,000 people from all over the country at Westminster tomorrow, for a mass lobby on world trade.

During his visit to Ghana in February, Mr Blair said he wanted a huge public campaign - along the lines of the Jubilee 2000 movement on under-developed countries' debt relief - to address the scandal of continuing poverty in Africa.

Christian Aid supporters in the North-East will lobby their MPs inside the House of Commons, or outside, from where they stand in a mile-long queue.

Rickshaws will carry the politicians down the line to their relevant lobbyist.

Laura Brown, from Sedgefield, said: "I used to campaign on debt in the past and I feel very strongly that the issue of trade justice is linked to this.

"Not only does debt need to be cancelled, but you've also got to do something about making trade work for poor people, otherwise you're just going to keep running into the same problems."

The rally is being organised by the Trade Justice Movement (TJM), a new grouping of charities, aid agencies and campaigning groups calling for fundamental changes in the rules and institutions governing international trade.

Andrew Pendleton, from Christian Aid, one of the TJM agencies, said: "People in Britain care passionately about the plight of the world's poorest people and this is what they will demonstrate on June 19.

"This event will not only show politicians that they have a clear mandate from voters in the UK to act to change international trade rules, but it will also show how people can use democratic means to make their point."