In this interview yesterday morning, Tim Stevens, the Bishop of Leicester was defending the place of C of E bishops in the House of Lords. Amongst other things, he said that it was important for the church, as a representative of all faiths to have a voice in "the public square".
At the moment, there are 26 bishops who have a seat by right in the House of Lords. Under the government's current proposals for Lords reform, that number would reduce, but then so would the overall size of the House. In fact, under Nick Clegg's proposals, bishops would make up 3% of the new House, more than they do now. This would only exacerbate the fact that the UK is unique amongst western democracies in having any religious representation in our parliament at all.
I actually agree with Bishop Tim that faith groups are entitled to a voice in our national conversation. Where we differ is that I don't think they're entitled to a vote. The church, and any other religious group, could have a voice from outside parliament, just like any other interest or pressure group does. How strong that voice is, and the extent to which it is heard by power would rightly depend on how much legitimacy the church could claim in representing the views of the people.
If the Church wants seats in the Lords, let it stand for election like any other group. Then we'll see how much the public values its voice.
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