Representatives from the United Reformed Church have joined faith leaders in urging the government to rethink its approach to immigration, and to move away from a hostile environment towards a culture of sanctuary, as MPs return to parliament after the festive break.

In an open letter to the government, published on Sunday 6 January, the faith leaders wrote:

The Revd John Proctor, General Secretary of the United Reformed Church, reflects on how a train journey during the cold winter months inspired an epiphany.

I had an epiphany, on a train of all places. At this time of year, most of my commute takes place before dawn or after dark. The countryside beside the track is almost invisible. The shapes and silhouettes are familiar, but it’s grey and shadowy, with muted colours, blurry lines and detail hiding in the dark.

Then one day I had to come home early. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. Fields were green. There were birds, and growth in the ground. Even the colours of fences and gates seemed rich and interesting.

Steve Tomkins, Editor of Reform, the magazine of the United Reformed Church, has kept a new year’s resolution throughout 2018.

I am in the incredible position, for the first time in my life, of having kept a new year’s resolution from January through to December.

As I write that, in one half of my brain, trumpets sound, heralding my wondrous achievement; in the other, there’s an old puritan giving me a slow hand clap and saying: ‘Actually doing what you said you were going to do counts as a moral victory these days, does it?’