A Protestant church magazine has rebranded from Reform to Reformed after readers got “fed up” with its name being mistaken for Reform UK.
The United Reformed Church (URC) announced the change for its national publication after a poll where 86 per cent of readers supported a new name.
Stephen Tomkins, the magazine’s editor, said: “We’d talked about changing the name for a few years as Reform UK became more prominent. But at first, we took the view: ‘It was our name first!’”
He added that “readers started telling us the name was causing confusion and consternation in local churches”.
The URC “is not attached to any political party and does not want the name of its magazine to suggest that it is”, Mr Tomkins said.
“The URC’s General Assembly has taken positions on public issues that are at odds with Reform UK policy, e.g. on migration and asylum, but Reform UK is not the only UK party for whom this is true.”
The URC has about 44,000 members in about 1,250 congregations across the UK.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has previously fallen foul of Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, who has accused him of an “isolationist, short-term kneejerk” response to the small boats crisis.
The senior Church of England bishop said that Mr Farage, who has promised mass deportations, was not offering a solution to the “big issues” driving people to risk the English Channel crossing.
He argued that Reform’s radical proposals to “send them all back”, which would involve returning migrants to war, violence and persecution, go against “the British way”.
He added it has been a longstanding tenet in the UK that “compassion and understanding” is what is provided to those in need, as he warned that this country “cannot simply close the door”.
Mr Farage earlier set out plans to remove up to 600,000 people from the country if he forms the next government.
In March, he said he would “stand firm for the Judeo Christian principles upon which our nation was built” while calling for an end to all mass religious observances.
Polling done in mid-2025 showed that support for Reform is growing among Christians in the UK. Only 15 per cent of Anglicans voted Reform in 2024, but in mid-2025, 38 per cent rated their likelihood of voting for the party as high.
