By stewartb

On the website of the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland we learn that of Labour Government Bills in the Kings Speech, 24 out of 40 are identified as applying in Scotland. Notable among them is this one: ‘Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill’ concerning representation in the House of Lords.

Lords reform

It’s hard to resist looking back to 5 December 2022 when the Scotland page of the BBC News website had this headline: ‘Gordon Brown: Labour plan would make UK work for Scotland’. Here we find a photograph of Brown and Keir Starmer together at an event in Edinburgh to launch Labour proposals for constitutional change contained in a paper titled ‘A New Britain’. We were told: ‘Labour in government would offer “economic, social and constitutional innovations that can make the UK work better for the Scottish people”.’ (my emphasis) Was that another ‘vow’?

The BBC Scotland article gives this detail: ‘Labour is also looking at replacing the House of Lords with an elected “assembly of the nations and regions”. Sir Keir Starmer is quoted saying they would give the nations a “louder, prouder voice”. The implication back then was that the constitutional status quo meant that the UK wasn’t working for Scotland and Brown’s proposed reforms were the fixes required.

Readers may well recall the importance accorded by the Labour Party and its media allies to the Gordon Brown-led Commission on the UK’s Future from which the above proposals emerged. In its assessment of the Commission’s recommendations, the UK establishment-endorsed Institute for Government (IfG) on 5 December 2022 explained:

‘Many might see constitutional and economic questions as entirely separate, but (my emphasis) the Brown commission motivates its constitutional recommendations by pointing to economic failings – stagnant productivity growth for the last decade and large geographic inequalities that have persisted for far longer.’  In other words, Brown and back then the Labour leadership considered constitutional change as pivotal in pursuit of wider economic objectives – and to “make the UK work better for the Scottish people”. So it’s reasonable to ask, is Labour ‘walking its talk’?

The IfG emphasises the significance of Lords reform: ‘A new second chamber is key to entrenching Brown’s proposed constitutional reforms: It is in its plans for the House of Lords that the Commission’s proposals diverge most dramatically from the policies of the current government. As well trailed, the report sets out plans to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected second chamber; an Assembly of regions and nations.

(As an aside, its worth recalling that at the time the IfG noted: ‘Labour’s plans will also offer a form of constitutional protection to the devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The new upper chamber at Westminster will be able to block legislation that affects devolved matters that has not gained the consent of the devolved institutions.’ But then adds a note of caution: ’This could be an important change – although if the reformed upper chamber agrees with the Commons, then this protection may not be as meaningful as expected.’  Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – seems like the appropriate conclusion!)

Fast forward to now. It is in the context of past Labour Party proposals for radical constitutional change – motivated, we were assured, to make “the UK work better for the Scottish people”-  that makes this Bill concerning the Lords Spiritual which extends and applies to Scotland ‘noteworthy’!

Why does this Bill apply in Scotland?

The Westminster government’s briefing on its legislative programme gives details of all its Bills. It summarises the nature of the ‘Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill’. We have this confirmation in the official briefing: ‘Territorial extent and application – The Bill will extend and apply UK-wide.’

(See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6697f5c10808eaf43b50d18e/The_King_s_Speech_2024_background_briefing_notes.pdf )

The official briefing explains: ‘Since 2015, legislation has ensured that female bishops enter the House of Lords sooner than they otherwise would. The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill extends this provision for a further period to support efforts to increase the number of female bishops in the House of Lords.’

‘What does the Bill do? – The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester are automatically given seats in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual. This Bill will ensure that, whenever a vacancy arises among the 21 other bishops in the House of Lords, the position will continue to be filled by a female diocesan bishop if one is available.’

‘… the 2015 Act expires in May 2025, so it is right to extend it for a further period to support this goal in agreement with the Church of England’. It takes six paragraphs, half way down the briefing note, before we’re told explicitly that this Bill – one that will extend and apply to Scotland – is (of course) only about the ‘Church of England’, about the established church in England only.

Church of England and Westminster government

On the Church of England’s website, in its news section, we learn this about the Meeting of its House of Bishops on 15 July 2024. The report of the meeting has this: ‘They also considered how the Church can support and engage with the new Government, discussing the current strategic political challenges both in the UK and globally, and reviewing the #PrayYourPart election campaign.’

(See https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases )

The House of Bishops is one of three Houses that make up the General Synod of the Church of England. ‘The House of Bishops meets in May and December outside of General Synod to discuss issues such as episcopal ministry, mission and national issues that affect the Church.’ (Source: Church of England website) Wikipedia tells us that: ‘As there are 42 dioceses of the Church of England, there are 42 bishops diocesan (including vacancies). Of the 42: both archbishops and the Bishops of London, of Durham and of Winchester, sit in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual ex officio; a further 21 sit there by seniority (of whom five had their seniority accelerated)’.

Also in the Church website’s news section one finds this: ‘General Synod: Presidential Address by the Archbishop of York (5 July, 2024) – the Presidential Address by The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, at the York 2024 group of sessions of the General Synod.’

The Archbishop is quoted: ’Other huge challenges face our new government, the huge challenges that face our nation and our world, of which we in the Church of England stand ready to help because the scriptures that shape us demand it.’

And he goes on: ’General Synod, in our witness and service to the nation as the established Church of this land, and in order to fulfil our vision to be the church for everyone everywhere, and in a new beginning for our nation with a new government, we need …’ (to follow the example set by named former clergy/members in the church).’

End note

Like me you may have wondered why the ‘Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill’ will extend and apply UK-wide. After all, it only concerns the appointment of senior clergy from the Church of England – clergy who hold positions located in England and within the established church only of England.

But then this Church and its senior clergy have a secure place within a legislative body, the House of Lords, whose constitutional and political role extends and applies to Scotland.

And beyond their unelected positions within the House of Lords, senior clergy – those who give “service to the nation as the established Church of this land” – express an intent to influence the government of the United Kingdom. Recall these from earlier:

• ‘…. how the Church can support and engage with the new Government, discussing the current strategic political challenges both in the UK and globally’
• ‘’Other huge challenges face our new government, the huge challenges that face our nation and our world, of which we in the Church of England stand ready to help because the scriptures that shape us demand it.’
• “in our witness and service to the nation as the established Church of this land’.

Is it the scope of the constitutional position of the Lords Spiritual – the senior clergy of ‘the established Church of this land’, namely England  – that causes the Bill to extend and apply to Scotland? Because their role and influence on the governance of the UK extends beyond ‘the land’ for which their church is the established church?

An explicit limitation of the territorial extent of this Bill just to England, given the UK-wide constitutional role of the Lords Spiritual and their intention to engage with and influence the UK government on UK and global matters – and doing so as part of this church’s ‘witness and service to the nation as the established Church of this land’ – may have prompted other questions!

But for completeness (and fairness), we should acknowledge that the new Labour Government is being ‘radical’ towards another aspect of the House of Lords. It is introducing a Bill to remove the right of the remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords. To say this has been a long time coming is rather an understatement – to say the least! Together with the Bill regarding the Lords Spiritual, the Bill regarding hereditary peers will surely – to hark back to Labour promises on constitutional reform in 2022 – “make the UK work better for the Scottish people” – will it not?