Humanists call on Burnham to go further with reforming ‘antiquated and archaic’ church and state rules

Humanists UK has welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s announcement today that he will bring forward a Bill to end the specific legal bans on Roman Catholic and Jewish prime ministers advising the Crown on Church of England appointments – when those of all other religions or beliefs are already allowed to advise. But it has also said that the continuing absurdity of non-Anglicans advising on Church of England religious appointments shows the need to go further with separating church and state.

In a written statement to Parliament, Andy Burnham said it was ‘unacceptable for there to be a legislative bar against people of any faith performing all the functions of my office’, and that his Government would ‘introduce a Bill at the earliest possible opportunity to correct this antiquated and archaic anomaly’.

Because the Church of England is the established church, the Prime Minister has a formal role advising the monarch on the appointment of bishops and other senior clergy. Under laws dating from the 19th century, a prime minister or lord chancellor who is Roman Catholic or Jewish is barred from carrying out that role. Mr Burnham, a practising Roman Catholic, has for now handed the responsibility to the Lord Chancellor.

‘Finish the job’ 

Humanists UK said the Prime Minister was right to call the ban an ‘antiquated and archaic anomaly’ – but said that such anomalies run deeper than just those two old statutes. They encompass the wider entanglement of church and state, including:

• The PM advising on appointments at all: why should a Prime Minister of any religion or belief be deciding Church of England appointments in the first place?
• King or Queen must be Protestant: A Roman Catholic still cannot succeed to the Crown or act as regent, and the sovereign swears at their coronation to uphold the Protestant religion. 
• 26 bishops still legislate by right: 26 Church of England bishops sit and vote in the House of Lords. The only other sovereign state that reserves seats in its legislature for clerics is Iran.
• Children are required by law to ‘worship’. Every state school in England and Wales must hold a daily act of worship, under a law from 1944. Outside of faith schools, this must be Christian. Similar rules apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• A third of state schools are faith schools, many able to select pupils and staff on religious grounds. These are overwhelmingly Christian.
• The Westminster Parliament opens with Anglican prayers, and MPs and peers who attend can reserve their seats for the day – those that can’t might not get a seat so might find it harder to get to speak.

Every one of these is a relic of a country that no longer exists. Most people in England and Wales are now not religious, and fewer than half identify as Christian in any sense. Anglican churchgoers make up a small single-figure percentage of the population.

Humanists UK Director of Human Rights and Advocacy Richy Thompson said:

‘The Prime Minister is absolutely right. It is antiquated and archaic that anyone should be barred from public duties because of what they believe, and we welcome this Bill wholeheartedly.

‘But step back and the real anomaly is obvious: why is a Prime Minister appointing bishops in the first place? The reason a Roman Catholic Prime Minister has to hand the job to someone else is that the job exists at all. In a modern democracy, the government should have no role in running a church.

‘The same logic applies to a religious test for the head of state, reserved seats for bishops in Parliament, and compulsory worship in schools. If Number 10 can see that two 19th century Acts of Parliament are out of date, it should see that the whole settlement is. We’re asking the Prime Minister to finish the job.’

What Humanists UK has been doing

Humanists UK has campaigned for a secular state – one that treats people of all religions and none equally – since its founding in 1896. In the last two years alone:

• Bishops in the Lords. Throughout the passage of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, Humanists UK supported MPs and peers to challenge the 26 bishops’ automatic seats. Cross-party MPs raised the issue at Second Reading, amendments to remove the bishops were tabled and debated in the Commons, and in the Lords Humanists UK worked with Baroness Harman on an amendment that drew national coverage. Humanists UK made the case at every stage, despite reluctance from the Starmer government to widen the Bill’s scope.
• A win in the Isle of Man. In January 2026 Tynwald voted to strip the Bishop of Sodor and Man of his vote in the island’s legislature, after a campaign Humanists UK supported from the first consultation in 2024. It is the first time in modern history that a Church of England bishop has lost a legislative vote – and a direct precedent for Westminster.
• Prayers in Parliament. Humanists UK and the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group gave evidence to the Commons Modernisation Committee calling for an end to the ‘prayer card’ system that lets MPs who attend Anglican prayers reserve their seats, and backed an Early Day Motion to end parliamentary prayers. When the Leader of the House ruled out a review, Humanists UK wrote asking her to reconsider.
• Disestablishment in Parliament. Humanists UK supported All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) member Lord Scriven’s Disestablishment of the Church of England Bill, the first Bill of its kind in decades, and gave evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the membership of the Lords.
• Public opinion. Polling consistently backs reform: a YouGov poll found 62% of British adults think no clerics should have an automatic right to seats in the Lords, with only 8% supporting the status quo, and a majority favour separating church and state.

Humanists UK will be writing to the Prime Minister to set out the reforms that should follow, and will brief parliamentarians ahead of the Bill’s introduction.

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