THE Archbishop of York has joined in a drive to remind people to register to vote, and to bring the proper identity documents with them on 4 July. “Don’t miss the prospect to have your say,” he urged.
The deadline for voter registration is Tuesday (18 June). For the primary time in a UK General Election, voters will need to point out a type of photo ID on the polling station.
A full list of the permitted types of ID, in addition to details on find out how to register to vote, can be found on the Electoral Commission’s website.
“The General Election offers a very important opportunity for every of us to play our part in helping shape our nation. To have our say on the problems that matter to us. To speak up in regards to the things that we and our neighbours are facing,” Archbishop Cottrell said.
He is supporting a campaign by the community alliance Citizens UK, urging organisations to turn out to be “voter registration champions”. The Archbishop said: “Every voice and vote matters on this election, and it is actually vital that we hear the voices of people that may not have any voter ID.”
Last yr, the Electoral Commission published research that suggested that as much as eight million eligible voters weren’t registered properly.
On Monday, in a webinar organised by the Church Times and Modern Church, the deputy director of Citizens UK, Jonathan Cox, urged churches to enroll to the campaign.
Churches could play an important part in ensuring that folks’s voices were heard, by encouraging them to register to vote and reminding them of the requirement for ID, he said.
Mr Cox emphasised the worth of participation in elections and engagement with politicians: “If you don’t have a seat on the table, you’re probably on the menu.”
It was a phrase picked up by other speakers within the webinar, including the C of E’s National Ecumenical Officer, the Revd Tim Norwood, who encouraged churches to organise hustings. He said that working ecumenically was a great technique to reach the widest pool of individuals, and that this applied on the local in addition to the international level.
The Joint Public Issues Team — a partnership between the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church — has published information and advice for churches that want to host a pre-election debate between their local candidates.
The General Secretary of Churches Together England, Bishop Mike Royal, said that churches were ideal hosts for hustings, as they were capable of attract a “excellent cross-section of the community”.
For Mr Norwood, hustings weren’t an end in themselves, nonetheless, but a step towards constructing “relationships [with politicians] which can proceed”, encouraging church communities to stay connected with local politicians to be sure that they were “getting a seat on the table, and keeping it”.
Bishop Royal agreed, even though it was vital, he said, that friendships didn’t develop between leaders which prevented the church’s having the ability to “call out” politicians.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland have a tool on their website to locate church-organised hustings.
Among the events which have already been planned there are hustings in Southwell Minster on 20 June, and in Gloucester Cathedral on 24 June.
LAST week, Church House published a booklet containing 21 days of prayers and reflections, penned by a small group of bishops and designed to be used within the build-up to the General Election.
The topics for every day reflections include social care, education, overseas aid, and the justice system.
In an introduction, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York consult with the Lord’s Prayer injunction “Your kingdom come, your shall be done, on earth as in heaven.”
“This easy and profound prayer is our place to begin in the course of the days leading as much as the General Election — and all of the days beyond,” they write.
A print copy of the booklet was distributed free with last week’s print edition of the Church Times.
The diocese of Salisbury has also produced a booklet, which, unlike the Church House publication, comprises evaluation of policy areas, including immigration and racial justice.
In an introduction, the Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Revd Karen Gorham, explains that the briefings have been put together “by the sector chaplains and others within the diocese. As people on the bottom it highlights their current concerns and the areas of our common life which need addressing by any incoming government.”
On Monday, the Daily Telegraph reported that the Conservative candidate in Stoke-on-Trent, Jonathan Gullis, described the contents of the booklet as “political electioneering”, and a “shameful indictment of the present state of the Church of England under the leadership of the woke Justin Welby”.
Mr Gullis, who, until the dissolution of Parliament, was MP for Stoke-on-Trent, has previously criticised Church of England bishops for “using the pulpit to evangelise from”.
In a post on social media, Archbishop Welby told Mr Gullis that he was “all the time grateful for feedback”, and that he looked “forward to advice on what we must always be doing within the pulpit”.
QUESTIONS about safeguarding and social security were among the many issues highlighted by bishops and Christian charities this week.
The independent safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight has issued questions for voters to ask candidates, and called on the following government to introduce mandatory reporting laws.
Such laws were one in all the important thing recommendations in Professor Alexis Jay’s final report within the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) (News, 21 October 2022), but haven’t yet been put into place, as a public consultation continues.
The C of E’s safeguarding bodies have participated within the consultation, but haven’t been clear about whether or not they support religious exceptions to any latest law (News, 22 September).
Mandatory reporting within the C of E was also a suggestion in Professor Jay’s report on the long run of safeguarding within the C of E, and survey results obtained by the Church Times show that a powerful majority of respondents supported the proposal (News, 31 May).
Thirtyone:eight’s public policy and research manager, Leigh McFarlane, said on Wednesday: “Parliamentarians, lawmakers, charities, and faith-based organisations must work together to strengthen and reform existing laws, develop latest laws, and maintain momentum in areas where there remains to be a scarcity of clear and effective policy and guidance.”
The charity has published a manifesto on its website which sets sets out the policies it recommends.
The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Jonathan Frost, also made a plea about a selected policy last week, asking “all parties” to “please end the two-child limit” for Universal Credit.
Bishop Frost was commenting on a post by the Children’s Society which called for the limit to be scrapped, referring to research that implies that, in two-thirds of constituencies, not less than one quarter of the youngsters live in poverty.
