Bishops’ bench representative protests Labour’s House of Lords plan

An Anglican bishop has protested plans to reform the House of Lords which could abolish reserved seats for Church of England representatives.

Writing in Church Times last week, the bishop of St Albans Alan Smith (pictured) criticised a recent report by the Labour Party calling for the House of Lords to be replaced with an elected second chamber.

He expressed concerns that the report makes "no mention of the historic and enduring links between the Crown, Church, and Parliament which make up so much of our living constitutional arrangement".

He added: "These are serious omissions, which I hope the authors will reflect on".

Smith is the convenor of the Lords Spiritual, also known as the 'bishops' bench', who are the 26 Church of England bishops given seats as of right in the House of Lords. The convenor represents the bishops to the other parties and groupings in the Lords.

Bishop of Oxford Steven Croft also expressed opposition to an elected chamber, and concerns over the lack of mentions of religion in the report.

The report by the Commission of the UK's Future, which was set up by Gordon Brown and makes 40 recommendations for constitutional change, proposes to abolish "the current undemocratic House of Lords" and replace it with "a democratic chamber that is permanently closer to the British people".

The report makes no direct mention of the bishops' bench, but it says the new chamber "must have electoral legitimacy". A chamber with seats assigned to religious representatives would be unlikely to meet this requirement.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party would aim to implement these reforms "as quickly as possible", ideally within its first term.

The UK is unique among Western democracies in giving representatives of religious groups automatic seats in its legislature. A poll last year found most Brits think the bishops' bench should be abolished.

NSS: "The bishops' bench has no place in a modern democracy"

NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "The bishop's opposition to plans for a more democratic second chamber reveal how self-serving the Lords Spiritual are.

"Under Labour's plans, it is inconceivable that the bishops' bench could remain part of the legislature, because it is one of the most archaic, undemocratic and unjustifiable groupings in the House of Lords. Alan Smith, and the bishops in the Lords he represents, know this – hence his opposition to such reforms.

"Whether the House of Lords is abolished entirely, replaced or reformed, there should be no reserved seats for religious clerics.

"The bishops' bench has no place in a modern democracy – let alone a largely irreligious and religiously-diverse country where Christians are now the minority."

Image: UK Parliament