Bishops in House of Lords ‘wholly inappropriate in a modern Britain’, say peers

Peers have called for the automatic right for bishops to sit in the House of Lords to be removed and for the state to be fully separated from the Church, during last night’s debate on the Government’s Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill. Humanists UK has repeatedly called for a secular state and for the end of the automatic right of Church of England bishops to sit in the House of Lords.

The peers spoke during last night’s debate on the Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill, which will end the ban on Roman Catholic and Jewish prime ministers advising on Church of England appointments. Humanists UK welcomed it in September but said the Government should go further.

All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group member and crossbench peer Lord Birt said:

‘I welcome the Bill and particularly the use of the word “discriminatory” in its title, but I will take this opportunity to ask why we cannot go further and completely eliminate ancient, archaic religious discrimination or favour from every part of the UK’s constitutional settlement.

‘This is surely wholly inappropriate in a modern Britain of many faiths and no faith.

‘The most telling data about real religious conviction in the United Kingdom comes from Scotland, where humanist marriage, unlike in England, is legal and where couples of any faith and no faith can exercise real choice about where and how they marry. With that choice, nearly half of Scots choose a civil wedding, 30% choose a humanist wedding and only 5% opt for the Church of Scotland.

‘There can be no case, in a country of many faiths and no faith, for a single English Church to be embedded in our Parliament, although I stress that clerics of distinction of any faith… would always be welcome in this House as individuals of merit.’

Liberal Democrats Lords Leader and APPHG member Lord Purvis agreed. He said:

‘Religion should always be an issue of private conscience and never a matter of public policy. I do not believe that the state is bound to profess a religion. Therefore, I do not believe that the political leader should advise on religious affairs, nor that clerics should have reserved places in a legislature.’

The only two sovereign states to award clerics of the established religion votes in their legislatures are the UK and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not only this but the bishops get unique privileges, above and beyond other peers. As a 2020 report from the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group highlighted, bishops get unique easy access to Government officials, if a bishop stands up to speak then the convention is that everyone else has to stop and sit down, and the bishops’ votes on new laws have been decisive in instances that have benefited the Church.

Polling consistently backs reform. A YouGov poll in 2024 found that 62% of British adults think no clerics should have an automatic right to seats in the Lords, and only 8% support the status quo.

Karen Wright, Head of Policy Unit at Humanists UK, said:

‘Reserved seats for bishops in Parliament gives undue weight to one particular religious group, sidelining the interests of the strong majority of people in the UK who are not members of the Church of England. It is simply not appropriate for representatives of one religious denomination to hold a privileged place in our legislative process. We thank Lord Birt and Lord Purvis for their speeches.’