THE LORDS ARE A FEUDAL LEGACY  ABOLISH THEM

Bishops in the Lords are a ‘feudal legacy’, says ex-BBC boss demanding reform

Lord Birt branded the automatic right for 26 Anglican bishops to sit on the red benches an ‘indefensible undemocratic anomaly’.


Bishops in the House of Lords (PA credit)

Abbie Llewelyn

Anglican bishops sitting in the Lords are a “feudal legacy” that should be ousted along with hereditary peers, a former director-general of the BBC has said.

Independent crossbench peer Lord Birt branded the automatic right for 26 Lords Spiritual to sit on the red benches an “indefensible undemocratic anomaly”.

He urged the Government to consider addressing this as it works to reform the upper chamber, expressing “disappointment” at the lack of a “comprehensive, holistic and long-overdue approach” to modernising the Lords.

Independent crossbench peer Lord Birt (House of Commons/PA)
PA Archive

Lord Birt said: “I support the plan to end the birth right of hereditary peers to sit in this House – it is a feudal anachronism…

“The guaranteed representation of the Church of England in this House is a second feudal legacy, embedded centuries before the notion of democracy gathered pace.”

He argued that there are “very fundamental reasons why embedding representatives of a single church in this house is no longer appropriate”.

Lord Birt cited the 2021 census, in which less than half the population identified as Christian, and of those who identify as Christian, only 21% said that they are Anglican.

The former BBC boss said: “The reality is that we are now an incredibly diverse society, a society comprised of people embracing many faiths and none.

“And we should not embark on a long overdue radical reform of this House without recognising that fact and without recognising that embedding the Church of England in our legislature is an indefensible undemocratic anomaly…