Where does faith fit in ‘national renewal’?: Reflections on the Labour Party Conference

On the 22nd-24th September, members of the ChurchWorks team attended the first Labour Party Conference from a Labour Government in 14 years. 

The resounding message of the conference was of the vision of ‘national renewal’ but avoiding ‘easy answers’. We’ve gathered a couple insights from key figures at the conference to help us understand what this might mean for our role as the Church. 

Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health spoke on his vision for NHS reform: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, from treatment to prevention. The importance of prevention was a recurring theme and Wes Streeting expressed his commitment to exploring how changes in the financial model for frontline services might make the NHS more local, personal and preventative. While faith groups were not mentioned specifically by the Secretary of State, we will continue to champion them as invaluable partners for the government to fully reach and support local communities. Join us at our launch event for our social prescribing and faith research project to find out more. 

Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions shared her passion for tackling child poverty, saying it was her ‘why’ that got her into politics and she will not rest until something is done about it. For the 4.3 million children who are in poverty in the UK, 100, 000 more than in 2021/2022, both urgent and sustainable action is desperately needed. The formation of the Child Poverty Ministerial Taskforce is a welcome step forward. Liz Kendall expressed a desire to collaborate with anyone who had ideas on tackling child poverty and following the conversation between ChurchWorks Commissioners and Sir Stephen Timms in September, we are looking forward to future conversations with the Secretary of State and others in the taskforce to explore collaboration. 

Lord Khan, Minister for Faith, Communities and Resettlement emphasised the importance of partnering with faith groups proactively rather than only engaging with them in a crisis. Adding to this, Georgia Gould, Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, shared that the government will not be able to succeed in its ‘missions’ without hearing from communities and tapping into the innovation of local groups. Faced with significant financial restrictions and an overwhelming demand for public services, proactive collaboration is not only whole-heartedly welcomed by ChurchWorks but is clearly a necessity given the local knowledge, agility and creativity that local community and faith groups can bring to meeting the needs of local communities.

‍The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer reminded us again that his mission-focused government is aiming for ‘nothing less than national renewal’. Encouragingly, he strongly emphasised that at the core of British values is ‘a love for this country and our neighbours’. While this most obviously applies to the violent, racist outbreaks seen across the UK in July and August, as the Church, we want to see this love of neighbour play out across every community and across the mission areas of government policy. At the heart of the church’s mission is Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbours. We share the government’s desire for a healthier, more peaceful and cohesive society. As ChurchWorks, we look forward to continued closer partnership with this government for the sake of our communities and we anticipate increased clarity on government policy following the budget on 30 October.