Christian Reform UK voters ‘want their country back’

Following Reform’s staggering performance ultimately week’s local elections, one among its councillors has suggested that many Christians voted for the party “because they need their country back”.

The election results saw Reform go from almost nothing to over 1,400 council seats. Between them Labour and the Conservatives lost over 2,000 seats, with around three quarters of them being Labour. The Liberal Democrats gained 155 seats, while the Greens won 441 seats. Their performance in Scotland was particularly noteworthy, putting them on a par with Labour. 

Speaking to Premier Christian News, Stephen Reed, deputy leader of Derbyshire County Council said that “loads of Christians [were] motivated to face for election because they need their country back, they need Christian values back”.

Reed blamed the political establishment for their very own failure, saying they’d grow to be “too woke and too progressive”.

“It’s encouraging to see individuals are wanting change. A number of individuals are voting for Reform, it’s good to see we’re having a move back towards the values of family, community and country. That’s what Reform stands for,” he said. 

Reform leader Nigel Farage has previously suggested there may be a powerful disconnect between church leaders and bizarre believers with regards to support for his party, particularly within the Church of England.

Last 12 months the Bishop of Oxford wrote an open letter to Farage criticising him for attempting “to politicise the questions of migration and asylum by deliberately increasing fear of the stranger in our communities”.

Farage has dismissed such the concerns of some within the church, saying they were “out of touch, perhaps with their very own flock”.

For his part, Reed, said there was no contradiction between Christian teaching and Reform’s plans, particularly on immigration.

“Yes, you welcome your neighbour. But the entire teachings of Jesus point to what we do as individuals, not corporately as a nation. He’s not talking to governments. Jesus said: ‘Give to Caesar what’s Caesar’s, and provides to God what’s God’s’,” he said. 

He added, “Charity starts at home. Before we might help others, we’d like to take care of ourselves. We must fix the problems with homelessness, deprivation and poverty that we’ve in our own society, before we help other people.”