Why I’m delighted Reform UK is bringing The Lord’s Prayer back to council meetings

One of my earliest memories of primary school is of singing hymns and reciting the Lord’s Prayer every day during morning assembly.

Fast forward 30 years to when I finally found God and I realised some of the seeds those school assemblies planted in 5-year-old me were finally blossoming and bearing fruit.

In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that the Christian faith was present and visible in all of our public institutions. Public acknowledgement of the fact that we were, and still are, a Christian country was widespread and taken for granted, assumed even. 

But the last three or four decades have seen a steady erosion of that. Christianity and God have been pushed to the margins of public life, if not removed completely. Some of that erosion has been through apathy and a natural decline in church going. 

But some of it, a large part of it, has been by design, as politicians and political parties have decided that Christianity should intentionally be removed from our public discourse and public spaces. New Labour’s Alastair Campbell infamously said during the Tony Blair years, “we don’t do God”. 

This is less of an innovation and more of a revival of what was once the norm in local government.

The reasons for this have been many, with the most recent cry by many on the progressive left that it is not ‘inclusive’ to focus on a single religion in case it offends those of other religions or none – what a load of sanctimonious rubbish!

Let me remind those on the progressive Left that 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 even to flourish. 

This is why it is so refreshing to see and hear that several of the Reform-led councils have re-introduced the Lord’s Prayer at the start of full council meetings and are finishing the meeting by singing the national anthem. What on earth is wrong with that? 

The policy was first introduced by Kent and then Essex, and I understand that newly won St. Helens council is considering doing the same. While the policy is definitely shared and encouraged (along with other best practice ideas) across Reform-led councils it is not mandated as each council and the council leader is considered to be autonomous. 

This is less of an innovation and more of a revival of what was once the norm in local government. It is also a reflection of the body of Christian belief within the membership of Reform.

The Christian voice in UK politics

The Christian Fellowship for Reform was launched last December with a carol service at a church in London and this group currently boasts a membership of over 1200 registered Reform party members. This is already far larger than the equivalent group in the Conservative Party – the Conservative Christian Fellowship – ever was.

Any council meeting that starts with prayer can only be blessed with more wisdom, more peace and better collaboration

This speaks to the fact that up and down the country, Bible-believing Christians are gravitating to Reform and getting involved in politics, many of them for the first time ever. This is mainly because they are worried about the state of the country and the future that awaits their children and grandchildren if we do not drastically change direction and quickly.

As a Reformer, I am gladdened but not that surprised to hear that individual Reform-led councils are introducing measures like this. On a deeper level, what this speaks to is a desire to reconnect with and acknowledge the UK’s Judeo-Christian heritage that has been and still is the foundation upon which our democracy, our laws, our constitution, our freedoms and liberties are based.

As a committed Christian now in middle life, I look back on my time in primary school singing those hymns and saying those prayers each day and I consider now how blessed I was to have that spiritual input at such a young age. Particularly so as I was not getting that at home.

Through the lens of my Christian belief now, I can only think that any council meeting that starts with prayer can only be blessed with more wisdom, more peace and better collaboration between individual members and the various parties to help them make better decisions in the interests of the communities they serve. Long may that continue and here’s to more councils and more public institutions rediscovering their Christian roots.