THE Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has attracted a storm of criticism for his attack on coalition government policies.

It would be surprising though if he hadn’t, given that his critique was so robust.

What is more, Dr Williams was attacking not only the decisions or policies but the philosophy behind them.

Mr Cameron has defended the policies, as would be expected, but some backbench MPs have used it as an opportunity to attack Dr Williams in much stronger terms.

They even suggest that given his position he should leave politics to the politicians.

We can’t agree.

There is no doubt that this is a highly political intervention by a serving Archbishop of Canterbury.

But if his intervention means a wider debate is started not only on how the government is forging ahead with radical policies, but also how the opposition is responding to them, then in our view it is to be welcomed.

Politicians might not like to hear some of the messages Dr Williams is sending, but they should not shy away from the debate.