Reform UK will protect Britain’s churches - and our proud history of religious freedom for all

Some people may have found it strange to hear Zia Yusuf, a Muslim and Reform UK’s Shadow Home Secretary, announcing our latest policy to prevent churches being turned into places of worship for other faiths, including mosques.  

But this speaks to a recognition of the UK’s Judeo-Christian heritage, the foundation upon which our democracy, laws, constitution and freedoms and liberties of the individual are based. This is why restoring Britain’s Christian heritage is a key part of getting our country back. 

As someone who is not a career politician, my journey into politics started relatively recently, in the summer of 2022. After a brief stint with the Conservatives, I defected to Reform in March 2024, while in the middle of a campaign to stand in the Greater Manchester mayoral election.

It is only under the umbrella of the Christian faith that it is possible to have a pluralistic society 

I joined Reform because their agenda is honest, bold and addresses the key issues that the country is facing: immigration yes, but also challenging the managed decline that the mainstream parties seem to have accepted as inevitable, standing up against the lunacy of the net zero agenda, the attacks on freedom of speech and our civil liberties and promoting a need for personal responsibility and enterprise as opposed to a growing dependency on the state. 

I stood for Reform in the 2024 general election and last year, I was elected to the party board. I am also a founding member of the Reform Christian Fellowship. In my role, I encounter many Bible-believing Christians in our growing membership. Like me, many have felt compelled to get involved in politics because they are worried about the state of the country and the future that awaits their children and grandchildren if we don’t drastically change direction. 

Countering chaos 

From a Christian perspective, I’m often asked: “How do you reconcile Reform UK’s policy stance on illegal immigration with the Bible’s call to welcome the foreigner in your midst?” It is a fair question – but it is a false perspective to simply see illegal immigration as something that is a matter for Christian charity.   

God created peoples and nations with defined boundaries and limits. God also set in place laws and governing authorities for the common good. A nation’s border is supposed to mean something, not just in the physical sense but in the legal sense also.  

Illegal immigration is self-evidently harmful to the public good. The illegal immigration that has been going on for the last eight years - seemingly unopposed by politicians and law enforcement agencies alike - shows that, on some levels, the UK has no border at all. Judging by actions and not words, it appears that anyone can literally just walk in and claim a right to be here - with all that that entails.  

This is chaos. And we know that chaos is a hallmark of the enemy’s kingdom, not God’s. It is right to oppose illegal immigration, and we must undo the harm that this has done, even if that means detaining and deporting those who choose to come here by that route. 

Protecting freedom 

Multiculturalism has failed. This is evident on so many levels today. A very recent and poignant example of this is the publication of campaign videos in Punjabi and Urdu by the Green Party candidate, Hannah Spencer, in the Gorton and Denton by-election.  

Just think about what that says about the level of integration in those communities - and the sectarian voting that took place in response to it; it was arguably a defining factor in the outcome of that election. 

It is false to see illegal immigration as something that is simply a matter for Christian charity 

That is why a future patriotic curriculum needs to be based on shared values, a shared language (English) and underpinned by the Christian faith. That is not to say that other religions are to be excluded, but it is an important recognition that Britain is a Christian country.  

Consider this: it is only under the umbrella of the Christian faith that it is possible to have a pluralistic society where other religions have the freedom to express themselves and flourish.   

You need only look to parts of the world where the Muslim or Hindu faiths are dominant to see that, in those places, other faiths - including Christianity - are often marginalised, suppressed and often heavily persecuted. 

A future where religious intolerance and sectarianism dominate the UK’s public and spiritual lives is not a future I want to see. That is why, under a Reform-led government, Britain will and must restore its Christian heritage.