IN THE first week of campaigning for the General Election, charities set out their policy wish lists, and Churches encouraged their members to participate fully within the democratic process.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland has provided a guide with ideas and advice for churches on organising a hustings.
The co-presidents of Churches Together in Somerset called on churches to organise hustings and to have interaction fully with the electoral process. They also urged people to register to vote by 18 June, and be ready to provide their photo ID on the polling station — the primary time that this has been required in a UK General Election.
Last 12 months, the Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, warned that the brand new requirement was “more likely to adversely affect the poorest and essentially the most marginalised” (News, 31 March 2023). People without an accepted type of ID can apply for a free “Voter Authority Certificate”; but Dr Smith suggested that those that didn’t have already got a passport, driving licence, or other accepted type of ID might well be unaware of the brand new rules.
The Evangelical Alliance (EA) released election resources, and urged Evangelicals to wish for politicians, and to think about what their faith “has to say about key issues facing the UK and our world”. Recent research by the EA suggests that there’s “no monolithic Evangelical vote”, but that support is spread in roughly the identical proportion as in the final population (News, 10 May).
Analysis of voting intentions by the think tank Theos suggests that “nominal” Anglicans tend towards the Conservative Party, but that regular Anglican churchgoers usually tend to support Labour or the Liberal Democrats (Comment, 17 May). Both studies suggest that Christians usually tend to vote than individuals who usually are not religious. The EA survey reported that 93 per cent of respondents had said that will definitely vote, or were more likely to.
Minutes after the Prime Minister announced the election, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued an announcement calling on Christians to become involved, and to assist to keep up civility in midst of the political debate (News, 24 May).
Last Friday, the charity CARE (Christian Action, Research, and Education) opened a web-based platform, “engaGE24”, hosting election resources, including a podcast and interviews with a cross-party collection of Christian MPs.
Among the policy announcements in the primary week of campaigning, the Conservative pledge to reintroduce National Service attracted essentially the most attention. This included criticism from inside the Party and the defence Establishment, in addition to from the Opposition and from pacifist organisations, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Peace Pledge Union.
The Fellowship’s director, John Cooper, said on Sunday that “the abuse of humanity present in warfare just isn’t something to coach future generations in.” His organisation would “proceed to support those whose faith leads them to object to conscription into the armed forces”.
