Will bishops lose the automatic right to sit in the House of Lords?

While you may be forgiven for thinking that the UK is a secular country, given the growing nonreligious character of its population, there is little separation of church and state.

We have recently reported how the Church of England is to use state-funded faith schools as a vehicle to drive religious adherence. But it's not just in education that the blurring of these potentially secular lines takes place.

There are only two nations on Earth where members of a religion are automatically given a seat in the state legislature: Iran and the UK. In the UK, the House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament, playing "a crucial role in examining bills, questioning government action and investigating public policy." Though it cannot prevent bills being enacted per see, it can delay bills, leading to them being revised.

Members do not get voted into position but acquire their seat by political, non-political, or ecclesiastical appointment, where it is granted for life.

Having ruled since 2010, Conservatives have had 13 years to stack the House of Lords deck, meaning that they have a large majority of the present 777 seats.

As famous TV personality and founder of the Women's Equality Party Sandi Toksvig recently opined:

Why is it, too, that we have a system that favours one denomination of one religion above all others when we live in a society that purports to champion freedom of religion or belief – even hosting an international conference on this universal human right last year? This anachronism becomes even more glaring when considering just 12% of the population is Anglican, and more than half the population is non-religious, according to the British Social Attitudes survey. Then there is the fact that, as the name suggests, just one of the four home nations is represented by the Church of England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are excluded.

In 2019, the British Social Attitudes Survey revealed that the proportion of British adults belonging to no religion was then 53%, with just 12% identifying as Anglican. So 12% of the population's religious views lead to ring-fenced political seats for that religious organization—something not afforded to any other such group.

Usually, 26 Lords Spiritual, selected out of the 42 Anglican bishops and archbishops, have automatic seats in the House of Lords. This can have a political impact. Of the nine who turned up to vote on the marriage equality bill in 2013, all voted against. In 2010, they successfully blocked an equality bill that would have applied to the church. Interestingly, they have tended to vote against the ruling party in recent times.

In 2020, the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group brought out a report, Time for Reflection, which identified nine recent incidents where bishops’ votes have changed the outcome of legislation.

Moreover, these Lords are afforded privileges over and above those of other peers, "including special consultation privileges prior to legislation being brought before Parliament, privileged speaking rights in the chamber (if a bishop stands to speak, all others are expected to shut up and sit down), and exemptions from the Code of Conduct."

Last week, a cross-party group of MPs called for an end to the automatic right. This was the outcome of a debate at Westminster Hall that was organized by the aforementioned All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG). Scottish National Party MP Tommy Sheppard, who chairs the APPHG, said in his opening speech, "We’re not talking about a ceremonial arrangement. We’re not talking about something democratic or cosmetic. We’re talking about real, effective, political power. Bishops vote on issues that matter and there have been plenty of occasions where their vote has been decisive."

And to highlight the cross-party agreement, Conservative MP Aaron Bell (Secretary of the APPHG) stated, "There could potentially be exactly the same role for the Church of England to be appointed the Lords, it just shouldn’t be as of right." Likewise, Labour MP (and Vice-Chair of the APPHG) Rachel Hopkins said that the present situation of "one particular branch of one particular belief" should not be afforded such privilege in a pluralistic society.

Representing the government in the debate, Alex Burghart MP (Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office) claimed that with 3% of the seats taken by bishops who represent 13% of the population, the CofE was actually under-represented! Of course, the flaws in this argument are obvious since no other segment of society has the automatic right to a seat. As Humanists UK point out, "Anglicans are already vastly over-represented with over 60% of peers being Christians, compared to under 40% of the population as a whole."

Humanists UK, who campaign for such reform, added their voice with their Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson saying, "The Church of England is unique in being both a religious group and having automatic seats in Parliament. That is unfair, undemocratic, and unjustified. It is past time this system is brought to an end and we look forward to taking the conversation forward from here."

Back in 2022, and perhaps in a sign of things to come if Labour win the next general election in 2024, leader Keir Starmer announced reforms for the House of Lords.

“I want to be clear that we do need to restore the trust of the public in every part of the United Kingdom in our system of government,” he said. “House of Lords reform is just one part of that … People have lost faith in the ability of politicians and politics to bring about change—that is why, as well as fixing our economy, we need to fix our politics.” In his leadership campaign, he promised to abolish the House of Lords and “replace it with an elected chamber of regions and nations.”

Such reforms would put an end to ruling governments manipulating the political landscape, avoiding the sorts of rows we have recently seen with Boris Johnson electing friends and cronies (such as Russian Evgeny Lebedev who owns the Evening Standard paper). Johnson's parting gift was his highly controversial peerage list that would have seen his most ardent supporters in government (16 aides, colleagues, and friends for peerages) receive peerages.

Whether it be to eliminate these issues or to disabuse the Church of England of its unjustified privilege, there must be reform.