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Lords back repealing ban on Catholics advising on archbishop appointments
Peers have backed plans to overturn centuries-old laws preventing Catholic and Jewish prime ministers from advising the monarch on senior Church of England appointments
New plans to lift the centuries-long ban on Catholic and Jewish prime ministers advising on senior Church of England appointments have cleared their first hurdle in the House of Lords.
Peers nodded through a Bill which would repeal Reformation-era laws which stop Andy Burnham, who is a Catholic, from carrying out the duties of being Prime Minister regarding the King appointing archbishops.
The Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill passed its second reading on Tuesday evening.
Lords leader Baroness Smith of Basildon said: “It does not reopen wider questions about establishment, nor does it alter the constitutional relationship between the Crown, the Government, and the Church of England.
“The Bill proceeds instead from a simple proposition that where the Prime Minister has a constitutional role in advising the sovereign, the law should not single out Roman Catholic and Jewish people alone and prevent them from undertaking that role.”
She added: “As William Gladstone recognised in his own efforts to dismantle remaining religious tests in public life later in the 19th century, maintaining statutory discrimination against specific faiths is incompatible with the modern representative democracy.”
Since the establishment of the Church of England in the 16th century, bishops and archbishops have been appointed by the monarch as the Supreme Governor.
The Prime Minister has the right to advise the King on appointments, but Mr Burnham’s Catholicism prohibits him from doing so.
Law changes in the 19th century later rolled back some of these laws, but the Bill will overturn the remaining ones.
The Bill was backed by peers across the Lords. Conservative former culture secretary Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone previously advised Sir John Major on appointments of bishops.
She said the current arrangement could not be defended. She added: “This has become a practical issue, of course, under the present Prime Minister, who has had to make alternative arrangements for the discharge of his responsibility.”
She added: “I can’t see any reason why someone should be prevented from carrying out a constitutional duty of their office simply because of their religious faith.”
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, said: “The repeal of this discriminatory provision not only strengthens the important relationship between church and state, but also the constitution itself by better reflecting the principles of religious freedom and equal citizenship.
“I therefore welcome the opportunity to support this Bill tonight.”
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