MPs back end of House of Lords hereditary peers
MPs have backed plans to get rid of all hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
A bill making its way through Parliament would abolish the 92 seats reserved for peers who inherit their titles through their families. […]
But during a debate in the Commons, some MPs also called for the government to go further.
Conservative Sir Gavin Williamson put forward proposals for Church of England bishops to be removed from the Lords but these were rejected by MPs.
He argued it was “fundamentally unfair” for a block of clerics to “have a right and a say over our legislation”.
“For me, as someone who is an Anglican, I cannot see why I have a greater right for greater representation than my children who are Catholics,” he said.
He added that the 26 bishops in the Lords only come from England and are “probably not reflective of today’s world”.
I’m not sure the Lords in general reflects the modern world in general, never mind just the bishops… I’m sympathetic to the SNP fellow who thinks the House of Lords should be abolished entirely as long as it’s unelected, but if the UK must have it then I’ll settle for the removal of the bishops at least; I’m here for the separation of church and state, and the UK’s insistence on keeping them together is retrograde at best.
