A MIDDLEWICH teenager is helping to put together the biggest petition in the world of 22 million signatures.

Paul Bannister, aged 18, of Chester Road, is calling for people in Winsford and Middlewich to join the campaign to cancel the backlog of unpayable debt owed by the world's poorest countries in an historic one-off gesture, based on the Old Testament idea of Jubilee.

Paul explained: "The Jubilee 2000 campaign is aimed at helping the children of the new millennium to live in a country without having the debts of other countries to pay for in their lifetimes.

"It could be your child that can't have the treatment he or she needs because the Government is paying out money to the countries in heavy debt

"I'm not saying that we should not take on the responsibility of the country's debts, but that Christian Aid and the general public can help to ease the debt."

The petition is to be presented to the G7 Summit in mid-1999.

Petition forms will be available to sign in the churches of Middlewich and Winsford.

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