Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill
on Wednesday, 17 July 2024 at 1.42 pm by Peter Owen
categorised as Church of England, News
Following today’s King’s Speech the Government released King’s Speech 2024: background briefing notes. Included in this is the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill. I have copied the relevant section of the briefing notes below the fold. The text of the 2015 Act is here.
Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill
- Since 2015, legislation has ensured that female bishops enter the House of Lords sooner than they otherwise would.
- The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill extends this provision for a further period to support efforts to increase the number of female bishops in the House of Lords.
What does the Bill do?
- The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester are automatically given seats in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual. This Bill will ensure that, whenever a vacancy arises among the 21 other bishops in the House of Lords, the position will continue to be filled by a female diocesan bishop if one is available.
- These arrangements have been in place since May 2015 as a result of the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015. Prior to this, diocesan bishops filled the 21 seats in order of their length of service as a diocesan bishop.
- Six female bishops have been appointed to the House of Lords under the provisions of the 2015 Act, five of whom currently sit in the House. This is welcome progress but more time is required to ensure significant female representation among the Lords Spiritual.
- However, the 2015 Act expires in May 2025, so it is right to extend it for a further period to support this goal in agreement with the Church of England.
- Without this legislation, the position would return to the status quo ante whereby bishops become members of the House of Lords according to their time in office; this would result in it taking longer for more female bishops to enter the House of Lords.
Territorial extent and application
- The Bill will extend and apply UK-wide.
Key facts
- The 2015 Act was passed shortly after the Church of England changed its own legislation to enable women to be appointed as bishops in 2014. The first female bishop (the Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek) was appointed in June 2015 and quickly entered the House of Lords as a result of the Act in September.
- At present, there is one female bishop who will be eligible to enter the Lords on retirement of an existing bishop, and this will happen before the 2015 Act provisions expire in May 2025. There is a further retirement in February 2025 (the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich), which again would be covered by the 2015 Act if a woman bishop was appointed to an eligible diocese before that retirement.
- Looking ahead, there are currently four vacancies amongst the eligible diocesan bishoprics and there is a possibility of female bishops being appointed to those posts. There are a further nine Lords Spiritual who will reach the retirement age in the next five years.
“The Bill will extend and apply UK-wide”
Surely this is an error. The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 only applies to England. The Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales and the Church of Ireland have no direct representation in the House of Lords. Neither will it apply to the Isle of Man which has its own legislature.
The 2015 Act also applies to the whole UK (see section 2(2)). I don’t think that this is a mistake. Although only Church of England diocesan bishops (except Europe and Sodor & Man) are eligible to sit in the House of Lords, the House is part of the parliament of the United Kingdom. The explicit application to the whole of the UK makes it clear that the Lords Spiritual are not restricted to purely English matters.
I believe it is technically correct for the reason given by Peter Owen but it does highlight an issue: why should England get extra representation in the Lords? I know the Lords Spiritual are a long-standing feature but in an era of devolution they look anachronistic.
I think that there is no justifyable case for a single denomination to have representation in the House of Lords as a matter of right. The historical position is outdated. Having Lords from a range of faiths and denominations is healthy. But one group selected on that basis – not.
Related, I understood that of this new House of Commons 40% affirmed their loyalty.
With it proving so difficult to find suitable people to fill vacancies for diocesan bishops posts I suppose that it is necessary to pass this legislation. I’m surprised that the Prime Minister hasn’t instead announced that he will remove the bishops from the House of Lords along with hereditary peers. Only a tiny fraction of the population have any meaningful relationship with the CofE and I don’t see how English bishops can adequately represent the interests of Christians in Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland. It’s all very quaint seeing a prelate or two in their episcopal garb but their contribution… Read more »
The C of E House of Bishops always have 26 bishops in the House of Lords, isn’t that equivalent to the group of Heredity Peers and therefore they too should be removed.
I think there are 91 hereditary peers, rather more than the C of E bishops. In response to Fr Dean, I am not surprised the PM won’t abolish the bishops. To be honest I wish he would. I think it would be a battle he wouldn’t want.
There’s a different principle at stake. Hereditary peers are there because they inherited the title (apart from any who are newly-created hereditary peers, which I think is currently only the Duke of York and the Duke of Edinburgh [as Earl of Wessex]). Bishops, like life peers, have been chosen as individuals to that role. Whilst successive holders of the titles continue to sit in the Lords the titles are not hereditary.
I would like legislation however limiting the number of peers from each of the home nations separately.
Back in 1975 Bishop Patrick Rodger of Manchester suggested in his diocesan monthly ‘Crux’ that, instead of admittance of bishops to the Lords according to seniority, selected bishops could be made life peers. I don’t know whether he ever campaigned for that.
Who cares?
In general I think you are right. It is a vanishingly small number who care. To be fair I did see a speech by the Bishop of Chelmsfotd on the parliament channel a while back and was rather impressed by it. But in general yes, who cares. BTW I like your username.I find it a long journey down and an even longer one getting up again these dayss.
The Lords Spiritual are to be distinguished from all other members of the House of Lords. They are ‘Lords of Parliament’ and are not peers. Numerically they number only 3% of the members of the HL and are the only group (at present) subject to a compulsory retirement date, ceasing to be Lords Spiritual when they retire as bishops.
The current 26 Lords Spiritual include 6 women, and one female Lord Spiritual has retired. That’s 7, appointed to the 19 vacancies since 2015 when women first became eligible. One alteration to the Act would be to fill vacancies only with women until there are 13 on the Bench of Bishops. That might encourage the men in the House of Bishops to really exert themselves to get more women appointed as Diocesan bishops – they have power to influence the processes (through General Synod and in their own championing of women) – as they would then have skin in the… Read more »
Hilary – whilst this might seem an ideal incentive to raise numbers, you seem to be forgetting that the processes which control the appointment of diocesan bishops are finding themeselves in deep water currently. Save for the possibility of veto in alliance with others, and the power of recommendation initially, archbishops and bishops don’t really control who become diocesan bishops. See recent discussions about Carlisle and Ely (and watch out for more).
The sooner the Lord Spiritual are swept away the better. Indeed time long since past for UK to be proper democracy with both houses elected.
I often think that the subject matters of 2 adjacent TA posts cross connect in some way, but because they are in different threads those connections are rarely made. However could there be a connection between this thread and Augustine Tanner-Ihm’s comments on colonialism? Marion Shoard is a writer on the history of land-use across the world, and I often find her incisive comments quite convincing. Her analysis of Great Britain is that we are a colonised country (which happened in 1066), but that because the colonisation happened so long ago we have forgotten that we are a colonised country.… Read more »
I think the fact that Celtic Christianity resonates with so many of us on a deep level indicates that there is still a bit of the old British identity left. The Church of England’s liturgical forms, and some liturgical dress, hark back to earlier colonisation by the Romans. While, as you say, Norman feudalism also has an imprint on our structures and mindset. Back in 1989, at a York diocesan clergy conference, I attended a workshop on Celtic Christianity led by David Adam. It was my first encounter with the movement, and as I took part something deep within me… Read more »
I am glad you have found that Janet. For me it’s the Anglo Saxon and Norse echoes that are around in Christianity that touch me. Less recognised but still there.
I’m intrigued. Can you say more about those echoes?
Well Janet, in lieu of Simon (I hope he’s not fallen off his bike) I’ll give it a go. I’ve grown to think that we islanders on this archipelago off the northwest of Europe are still even now a bit different especially in regards to the animal world and the environment. For instance, the RSPCA, founded in 1824, is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world and is one of the largest charities in the UK. The organisation also does international outreach work across Europe, Africa and Asia. Also the RSPB, founded in1889 is one of the world’s largest wildlife… Read more »
And I note that today at the low parish level we still have animal and pet services, at least around here in the Lower Bourne Valley in North West Hampshire at St Mary Bourne and Longparish. Everything from hamsters to horses via chickens and the occasional parrot. And very popular they are too.
It is good news that the new Government (with rather more important matters at hand) should consider finding Parliamentary time to introduce the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill. I note the period of extension is not cited, but would assume a further 10 years. However, the Bill won’t get an easy ride in either House. MPs and Peers will have a lot to say about the Church of England in the process. But the underlying need for the Bill tells its own story. The lamentable failure over nearly 10 years to appoint women diocesan bishops. I take the… Read more »
I suppose this highlights the different appointment process for diocesan and suffragan bishoprics. Perhaps one of the significant differences is the non-involvement of any central members elected by the General Synod.
The draft Bill is not yet available. The invaluable Law and Religion UK website states this:
The notes do not expand on the duration of the extension, but the time horizon considered in the discussion is ”the next five years”. The Cabinet Office is designated as the lead department, (Contact details, 07504077690).
https://lawandreligionuk.com/2024/07/17/lords-spiritual-women-act-2015-extension-bill/
It is very remiss of ‘the authorities’ to have not used the ten years- a period presumably assessed at the time as being sufficient- to have done what they ought to have done. Now they expect Parliament to spend precious time to give them more time, at a time when the Established Church, with its 26 ‘worthies’ in the Upper House, is most undeserving. Who will rid the House of these troublous prelates?