Danny Webster

Danny Webster

Danny joined the Evangelical Alliance in 2008 and has held a range of roles in the advocacy team. He currently leads the advocacy team's work across the UK including public policy work an engagement with the parliaments and assemblies, and respective governments. Before working for the Evangelical Alliance, Danny, who has degrees in politics and political philosophy, worked in parliament for an MP. Danny is passionate about encouraging Christians to integrate their faith with all areas of their life, especially when it comes to helping them take on leadership outside the church, and helped initiate the Evangelical Alliance's Public Leadership programme. He frequently provides comment on current political issues, both in Evangelical Alliance publications and to the press.

Conversion therapy vote could criminalise church teaching and discipleship

28 February 2024A private member’s bill aiming to ban conversion therapy is being debated on 1 March, and an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill proposes very similar changes to be made to the law and is likely to be debated at some point during March. Both the bill and the amendment aim to outlaw a wide range of activities that they class as conversion practices. The proposed amendment creates an offence if someone offers, administers, or takes payment for conversion practices, or for materials to be used…

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Speaking up in public life in 2024: we need your voice

24 January 2024For the Evangelical Alliance, a number of issues have climbed onto the parliamentary calendar all at the same time. This means that the first part of 2024 is an unusually busy time for us, and also a time when we will be asking more than we normally do of you, as members, to use your voice. In the next few weeks debates will take place in Westminster on conversion therapy and abortion and there’s a vital consultation currently taking place on issues around gender in schools. Coupled with the…

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Scottish Government announces plans to ‘end conversion practices’

10 January 2024In the consultation the government outlined how they intend to end conversion practices – which they describe as “any effort to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity”. These measures are open to consultation before any legislation is brought to the Scottish Parliament and could become law. The Evangelical Alliance will respond to the consultation encouraging the Scottish Government to take proportionate measures and will provide resources to help members respond directly…

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What’s happening with the government’s conversion therapy plans?

25 October 2023Since the government announced in 2018 that they would bring forward plans to end conversion therapy there has been a lot of talk, but very little action. The plans have been at times supported and rejected by different prime ministers. Theresa May was for a plan, Boris Johnson was too until he wasn’t, until he was again, and Rishi Sunak seems to be joining the hokey cokey and it’s not yet clear where he’ll be when the music stops! Much has also been made of the words of the pledge – does…

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Religious freedom in the workplace - why this should be central to human rights at work inquiry

4 September 2023The Joint Committee on Human Rights is currently considering the wide-ranging issue of human rights at work, and before the summer break took evidence from legal experts and workplace representatives on some of the key issues involved. The three organisations have now written to the committee asking that they take a more focused look at how religion and belief are handled in the workplace, and offered to provide further evidence of some of the challenges Christians presently face. Earlier in…

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Review calls on government to improve engagement with faith groups

26 April 2023Colin Bloom’s review called for the government to “actively encourage greater understanding and consideration of the beliefs and practices that define the complete expression of religion and faith, and for greater appreciation and support for what people of faith, faith-based organisations and places of worship contribute to society.” Commissioned in 2019 by, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the review heard from 21,000 respondents and collated nearly 1million pieces of data. The subsequent…

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30 years on from the death of Stephen Lawrence - there is still much work to do

19 April 2023On 22 April 1993, Stephen Lawrence was murdered in Eltham, South London. The ensuing investigation, failed prosecutions, both public and private, exposed failings in the police. There was widespread concern that the racially motivated killing of Stephen was met with racially prejudiced policing which led to a failed investigation of the crime and was responsible for the failure to secure a conviction. In 1997, the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, commissioned an inquiry into the investigation…

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The Illegal Migration Bill places politics before people

14 March 2023At the start of the year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered five pledges for his government, one of which was to simply ‘stop the boats’. The government’s proposed legislation to achieve this and tackle small boat crossing in the Channel was introduced into parliament in early March. This proposed law would remove virtually all rights from those arriving through irregular routes and in doing so undermines international refugee obligations and makes a mockery of modern slavery legislation,…

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What the government must consider in its upcoming conversion therapy bill

25 January 2023Legislating in this area is fraught with risks of restricting individual freedoms, conversations between parents and children, and the everyday practices of churches. We know this from legislation passed in different parts of the world, from proposals considered across the UK, and legal opinions analysing the consequences of new laws. What is normally the focus when proposals to ban conversion practices are discussed are efforts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.…

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2021 Census: Christianity can flourish in the margins of society

29 November 2022How should Christians respond to these findings, is it a cause for concern, and what does it mean for Christianity in public life? First of all, these findings are not a surprise; it has been widely predicted that this would be the result, and our own research through Talking Jesus found that 48% of the UK population described themselves as Christian. Second, it is vital to understand what the census measures and what it doesn’t. The decline in this figure is primarily representative of fewer…

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How can Christians respond to political chaos?

21 October 2022Liz Truss is leaving Downing Street as the shortest serving occupant behind that black door; her leadership campaign lasted longer than her premiership. We witnessed the ignominy of a lettuce on a live stream outlasting her. This followed the departure of her chancellor, purportedly for no greater reason than implementing the economic agenda she had run her campaign on and wanted to introduce. His successor not only gutted that plan, but seized political authority in a manner that had…

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