Tory faith minister calls for Imams and Rabbis to get automatic places in the House of Lords like Church of England bishops
by Tim Sculthorpe, Mailonline:
The Tory minister for faith has called for Imams and Rabbis to get automatic places in the House of Lords alongside Church of England bishops.
Lord Bourne, a junior Wales Office Minister, said he was in favour of adding ‘other faiths’ to the Lords.
Introducing other religions to the House of Lords would break centuries of tradition and require a change to the constitutional fabric of the UK.
There are currently 26 Lords Spiritual, all of whom are Church of England bishops and including the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
The bishops have their seats because Church of England is the ‘established’ church with a privileged place in the monarchy and parliament.
Lord Bourne told The Times: ‘I’d be more [for] adding other faiths.’
He said that there was a ‘great value’ in having bishops in the Lords but that ‘broader representation’ would be beneficial.
But former minister Sir Desmond Swayne dismissed the idea – questioning whether there was even a real call for the change in the country at large.
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