MPs to debate the role of bishops in House of Lords

The National Secular Society has welcomed news that parliament will debate the role of bishops in the House of Lords.

MPs will debate the future of the 'bishops' bench' at a Westminster Hall debate on July 6^th.

The debate, organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, follows recent lobbying from the NSS.

Currently two Church of England archbishops and 24 bishops are given seats in the upper house and are able to vote on legislation.

Their position grants them privileged access to parliament, and they are given deferential treatment by other members.

Scottish National Party MP Tommy Sheppard, who applied for the debate, spoke about the role of Church in parliament during an NSS event last month. He called the presence of the Church "incredibly unrepresentative" of the population.

He said a debate on the bishops' bench would provide the opportunity to put questions to ministers that "they will find hard to answer".

The bishops' bench is consistently unpopular with the public. A survey last year found over 60% of UK adults think bishops should have no place in parliament.

In February writer and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig launched a petition to remove the bishops from the House of Lords, which received nearly 164,000 signatures.

Iran is the only other country which has religious clerics in its legislature.

In March the Commission on Political Power said the bishops are an "anomalous" presence in the House of Lords and recommended their removal in a reformed second chamber.

NSS: Debate is a "golden opportunity" to challenge bishops' bench

NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "This debate is a golden opportunity to challenge the inappropriate and anachronistic presence of clerics in our legislature.

"It makes no sense to have unelected religious representatives automatically given places in parliament – let alone representatives of one single church in a nation that is diverse, predominantly non-Christian, and increasingly irreligious.

"We urge MPs to use this debate to call for the removal of the bishops' bench, and for religion to play no part in the selection of members in the second chamber."

Image: House of Lords 2021 / Photography by Roger Harris