It’s tempting to say that it was Theos what won it, but it wasn’t.
The Joint Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill, who were taking evidence for months, and then cogitated for a bit longer, published their proposals earlier this week. The report and recommendations can be found here.
The big headline is that the Committee want a reform Bill passed by both Houses and then put to a referendum. Mr Clegg does not (tendentiously arguing that all three parties supported reform at the General Election). As Robert Hazell of the Constitution Unit has observed, that hardly follows. Surely, the public have not had the opportunity to express a view on the issue?
On the issue of a religious component in the Lords, the Committee advocated the retention of 12 bishops, down from 26, as part of 20% appointed element of the reformed House (this was a majority, but not a unanimous, position on the Committee). Further, the Committee recommended that the proposed Lord’s Appointments Commission could have a duty placed on it to consider religious diversity, alongside other criteria.
We’re happy to report that this is basically what we recommended to the Committee in a written submission and Elizabeth Hunter’s oral evidence in December last year. We’d love to take the credit, but we can't. It’s a common sense position, given the Draft Bill’s objectives and the religious and theological issues at play.
The British Humanist Association, who gave evidence to the Joint Committee in the same session as Theos, has launched a humouressly titled but typically hyperbolic campaign, www.holyredundant.org.uk. Enterprising Peers and MPs of a secular bent will no doubt table ammedments when a Bill comes before Parliament after the Queen's Speech, so the BHA are pump priming the letter writing.
One thought for them. There are lots of Christians in the dissenting traditions – a probably a few Anglicans – who might sign up. But the huff, puff and general demagoguery might put them off. There's a sensible argument to make. They should make it.
Paul Bickley
