Kruger added: “They don’t like politicians moralizing, but they do think that our politics and policy should reflect the culture of the country, which is actually quite traditionalist. That’s the tension that we’re in.”
Public First’s Research Manager Jules Walkden said: “The public views ‘Judeo-Christian values’ as an important part of the country’s history, but not of modern-day politics. Reform’s move towards religious messaging is therefore unlikely to expand its base.”
“A majority of the public, including Reform’s own supporters, oppose a greater role for religion in politics, with most voters also resistant to it being used as a political wedge,” he added.
Sitting above politics
At the other end of the spectrum, on the populist left, some Green Party members want to actively break the link between church and state.
A policy to disestablish the Church of England, leaving the prime minister with no role in selecting the archbishop of Canterbury and expel bishops from the House of Lords, was set out in a document seen by the Daily Mail.
Party officials stress that does not mean such a policy would appear in its general election manifesto, and a party spokesman said: “The Green Party have a long standard philosophical principle of separating state and religion, but have no immediate plans to include any such policies in their manifesto.”