The Church Times has a report Lords Spiritual could be reduced to 12 bishops by Ed Beavan.
The previous week, prior to publication of the White Paper, it had published two articles about this:
Create a House of Talents by John F. H. Smith.
There is a better way than direct election to make Parliament’s Second Chamber more representative…
House of Lords reform: we are close to selling the pass by Bishop John Gladwin.
There is much inertia on the issue of the Second Chamber, but the stakes in parliamentary reform are high…
There has been plenty of criticism of the government proposals since the White Paper was published, including some that the bishops are being allowed to remain at all.
This post by Obiter J on Law and Lawyers contains a good summary of the proposals: Plantagenet Palliser – after 100 years, will Lords reform arrive?
The Constitution Unit Blog which comes from the UCL Constitution Unit has listed Eight key obstacles on the road to Lords reform one of which is:
4. Bishops. A reduction from 26 to 12 is proposed: possibly a compromise that pleases no one. Many want the bishops to go.