Following the vote on 20 November 2012 by the Church of England to not allow women to become Bishops an online petition was set up calling for the government to remove the right of the Church of England to have automatic seats in the House of Lords.
At present, the Church of England is granted privileged access to our Parliament. Anglican Bishops sit alongside Peers in the House of Lords, they have the right to vote and debate, they influence our national way of life. They acquired this right solely by virtue of their religion, their gender and their position in the hierarchy of one particular denomination of one particular Church. They are unaccountable to the public.
We want fair reform of the House of Lords which does not afford privilege to any special interest group.
We urge the Government to remove the automatic right of Bishops to sit there.
None of the arguments for keeping Bishops makes sense, and keeping them is unpopular with the public. We need to remove this archaic and unjust aspect of our political system.