r/TheUnitedKingdomNews

Christian nationalism in Britain is being driven largely by people who rarely attend church and are more concerned with defending the country’s Christian heritage, according to research.
The report, by the thinktank Theos, identified five different groups within the UK in a survey that looked at their attitudes to Christianity and Britishness.

The group whose views most closely resembled Christian nationalism, termed “identity integrationists” by the researchers, accounted for 11% of respondents, making it the smallest of the five groups.

Although 81% of this group identified as Christian, just 13% attended church weekly, only slightly above the 11% average across the population surveyed. Less than a third (31%) prayed weekly, while 47% expressed an interest in the Bible.

The group was strongly hostile to immigration and Islam. Just 19% agreed that Christian values required welcoming and supporting asylum seekers, while 30% supported the equal treatment of religions in public life.

In contrast, another group in the survey with high levels of Christian affiliation, were considerably more religiously observant and less hostile to immigration and religious diversity. They comprised 13% of respondents.

Among these “belief integrationists”, 31% attended church weekly, 46% prayed weekly and 62% expressed an interest in the Bible.
Almost half (48%) agreed that Christian values required welcoming and supporting asylum seekers, while 63% supported the equal treatment of religions in public life.

Although they are the group containing the highest proportion of practising Christians, only 18% of belief integrationists think that defending Britain’s Christian culture and heritage is important for being Christian, compared with 90% of the Christian nationalist group.

At a time when crosses have been carried at Unite the Kingdom rallies and crowds have chanted “Christ is King” at protests, the research challenges the idea that the growing prominence of Christian nationalism in Britain reflects a revival of Christianity.

Instead, the findings suggest that Christianity is increasingly being invoked as a marker of British identity amid wider anxieties about immigration, Islam and cultural change.

Lambeth Council leader says borough ‘pushing ahead’ with trial for its employees in London, while other Green councils in London are also looking at the policy

The move by Lambeth Council is understood to be the first of its kind by a local authority in London.

The Green Party mayors of Hackney and Lewisham also said they were looking at the policy, according to the Telegraph.

Martin Abrams, the leader of Lambeth Council, said the local authority was “pushing ahead” with the pilot of a shorter week for its employees.

According to the Telegraph, on the fringes of the Green Party conference in Brighton this weekend, Mr Abrams said he believed the policy would ensure a “better work-life balance” for employees as well as “increased productivity \[and\] better workers’ rights”.

He added: “There’s a real problem in local authorities with staff retention and turnover. It costs local authorities tens of millions of pounds every year in terms of recruitment and those staffing costs. So, if there’s anything that we can do to stem that by being bold and looking at things like a four-day week, we’ll do it."

“I’m really proud that Lambeth is pushing ahead with a trial of the four-day week,” the Lambeth council leader said.

The Telegraph said it understood that Mr Abrams has instructed council officers to look at proposals for a four-day week trial and how it will be implemented. Mr Abrams told Green Party delegates there was so far no date in place for when the trial would take place. The Standard has contacted Lambeth Council for comment.

Lambeth is one of six councils in London controlled by the Green Party after the party’s huge gains in the capital in the May elections.

Police in Bristol said they asked organisers of a far-right demonstration in the centre of Bristol tonight (Friday, October 9) to move it or reschedule, because a big cancer charity fundraising walk was taking place at the same time. But police have now confirmed the group refused.

A Reform spokesperson who appeared on Newsnight to defend the party’s internal investigation into foreign donations has been branded a laughingstock. Reform UK councillor Jaymey McIvor appeared on the BBC’s flagship current affairs show, where he claimed that his party had been cleared of wrongdoing… by the party itself.

The Spectator and The Times published investigations into her previous involvement with the Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir and her statements about British education.

What did she actually say?
The Muslim community as a whole in Britain needs to recognise that western education is a threat to our beliefs and values.

The reporting also identified several other controversial positions she had expressed:
Democracy: She described democracy as a corrupt tradition.
Integration: She criticised attempts by British schools to integrate Muslim children.
Child marriage: She criticised how British education portrayed marriage below the age of 16 and polygamy.
Religious education: She objected to Islam being presented alongside other religions as equally valid.
English literature: She argued that Shakespeare and fairy tales could transmit secular beliefs contrary to Islam.

Her links to Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir was banned in Britain as a terrorist organisation in January 2024.
Ahmed acknowledged past membership but said in 2010 that she had left the organisation several years earlier and did not agree with all its political positions.

What did Cambridge say?
Cambridge defended the importance of academic freedom and lawful debate.