Church of England diocesans that being in the House of Lords by right must be eliminated as component of the federal government’s modifications to the 2nd chamber, according to the professional lawmaker Harriet Harman.
Harman, that was a Labour MP for greater than 40 years up until 2024, has actually advanced a change to the federal government’s genetic peers expense, focused on finishing the automated right of 26 diocesans to being in the Lords.
Their existence was a metachronism that “undermines the legitimacy” of the 2nd chamber, Harman informed theGuardian “It is outdated that we have legislative scrutiny carried out by representatives of one Christian denomination. The only other legislature that has religious theocrats as members by right is Iran,” she claimed.
The federal government was looking for to raise the authenticity of the Lords by getting rid of the continuing to be genetic peers, however that was threatened by the automated seats for diocesans, she claimed.
Harman’s change states the Lords Spiritual, as the 26 diocesans are understood, should be eliminated from subscription of the Lords, however there must be no bar on specific diocesans and archbishops being designated as life peers.
“If we were starting afresh, I don’t think anyone would give bishops an automatic right to sit in parliament,” she claimed.
The disagreement that the diocesans offered an ethical aspect in the Lords was spurious, she included. “I don’t think anyone in 2025 believes that morality is the exclusive preserve of the Church of England. This is not about individual bishops or whether they make a good contribution [to the Lords], and it does not arise out of the C of E’s abuse scandals.”
She and various other peers backing the change had “no intrinsic hostility to religion”, she claimed. Some want to see various other beliefs and religions stood for in the Lords.
Harman claimed: “Aside from the bishops, I’ve not come across a single peer who thinks that the presence of bishops by right is a good thing. People speak well of individual bishops, but that’s not the point. The point is the legitimacy of the institution.”
Lord Birt, a cross-bench peer and previous supervisor general of the BBC, that plans to co-sponsor Harman’s change, claimed: “We are now an incredibly diverse society, comprised of people embracing many religions and beliefs. Embedding the C of E in our legislature is an indefensible, undemocratic anomaly.
“I have the greatest possible respect for the individual qualities and the inherent goodness of leaders I have met in my time from many faiths. I would hope and expect to see faith leaders of every kind represented in a reformed house. But they should be appointed on individual merit, not as exercising a right existing in one form or another for half a millennium.”
Lord Scriven, a Liberal Democrat peer, claimed the existence of diocesans by right was “a medieval tradition not serving any effective purpose in the 21st century … We should stop granting special power and privilege to a church that no longer represents the vast majority of citizens that parliament serves”.
According to a current survey accomplished by YouGov for Humanists UK, which is support Harman’s change, 22% of Britons intend to maintain diocesans in the Lords and 52% desire them eliminated.
Harman claimed she had actually tabled the change to “put down a strong marker” that the Lords Spiritual required to be consisted of in the federal government’s overhaul of the House of Lords.
She would certainly additionally such as to see the abolition of titles permanently peers, such as baroness and lord. “We are not appointed to have airs and graces, but to do a job of scrutinising legislation. These outdated titles should be done away with.”
