Bishops to remain in House of Lords

Bishops should keep their seats in the House of Lords, a committee of MPs and peers recommends.

According to the BBC, the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform also recommends that the number of bishops in the House of Lords should be reduced from 26 to 12.

If the recommendation is accepted by the Government, it will continue a tradition in British politics going back 700 years.

Secularists are campaigning for the removal of bishops from the Lords on the basis that they do not reflect British society and are undemocratic.

At the Church of England’s General Synod in February, the Bishop of Leicester defended bishops in the House of Lords, saying that they were a “key voice” for social justice and the poor.

The Rt Rev Tim Stevens said that beyond the Lords spiritual, the voices speaking up for the poor in Parliament were “few and far between”.

Plans to reform the House of Lords into a largely elected second chamber are due to be published by the Government in May.