SENIOR Labour Party members reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to involving faith groups in the duty of “national renewal”, as Labour opened its first party conference while in power since 2009.
At the conference on Tuesday afternoon, Sir Keir Starmer said that “change must mean nothing lower than national renewal.” His government would reject popularism — which he termed “the politics of easy answers” — and he stated his ambition to steer a “mission-led government . . . focused on a long-term plan”.
As the Church Times was going to press, a non-binding vote calling on the Government to reverse recent cuts to winter fuel payments was passed by conference delegates.
Bishops within the House of Lords previously criticised the cuts once they were announced earlier this month (News, 13 September).
On Thursday of last week, before the conference began, the Labour MP for East Ham, Sir Stephen Timms, had expanded on the Government’s “national renewal” slogan, saying that it needed “to be greater than just material improvement”.
In addition to “tangible improvement . . . we also need to vary the way in which we take into consideration our country and ourselves, to rebuild our hope for the long run”, he said, and argued that “religion and faith groups have an ideal deal to contribute.”
During the pandemic, faith groups had “stepped up” in several ways, he said, reminiscent of the availability of fabric and emotional support to those in need.
Faith groups also fostered a way of belonging, he said, and he dismissed concerns that this promoted divisions in society: “Minority faith groups don’t dilute Britishness, but add to it.”
Sir Stephen, a minister within the Department for Work and Pensions, was speaking at a lecture in St Bride’s, Fleet Street, organised by the Religion Media Centre, wherein he outlined the Government’s commitment to working with faith groups.
On Sunday, before the party conference began, he attended a service led by the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr John Perumbalath, at St James within the City, in Liverpool, which was attended by MPs, including the outgoing chair of Christians on the Left, Jonathan Reynolds.
The service marked the opening of the conference and was organised by Christians on the Left with Housing Justice and Christians Against Poverty, its co-sponsors.
The director of Christians on the Left, Hannah Rich, said that the service provided a rare opportunity for MPs attending the conference to be “a traditional person” and avoid the lobbying that took place much of the remainder of the time.
At the beginning of the service, Dr Perumbalath said: “Our faith in Christ itself is a mandate to work for justice and peace on the earth which God so loved. Our political conviction is an element of our Christian vocation.”
The Government’s Faith Minister, Lord Khan, also attended. He said that it was “wonderful” to mark the opening of the conference with a church service, and paid tribute to the part played by Christians on the Left in securing Labour’s victory within the General Election.
“As a Muslim, and a member of the Abrahamic family of faiths, I’m each day reminded of how much we now have in common,” he said. He paid tribute to the “power of religion” evident in ways wherein communities responded to the riots in August (News, 9 August).
In his lecture, Sir Stephen paid tribute to Lord Khan, who, he said, had told him that he was “looking forward to working with faith leaders across the country to be certain that faith is at the guts of presidency, and government harnesses the facility of religion”.
On Wednesday morning, Ms Rich said that the Government’s pronouncements of the worth of religion groups were “by no means just rhetoric”, and that it might play out at the extent of individual MPs’ working of their constituencies in addition to on the party level.
Ms Rich drew attention to the Labour Faith Champions project, which Sir Stephen chairs, for example of the Government’s commitment to engaging with faith communities.
Sir Stephen, who shouldn’t be an Anglican, said that he was “impressed by an ideal deal that the Established Church does”, including the contributions of bishops within the House of Lords.
He said that he “hadn’t seen any recent significant proposals” for disestablishment, and that his view was that it was crucial to “make the most effective of the circumstances that we’re in somewhat than attempting to unpick things”.
