Bishop of Birmingham seated in Lords: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 6. October 29, 2010
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Bishop Urquhart taking the oath of allegiance in the House of Lords
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Birmingham was seated as the newest Lord Spiritual in Parliament this week. On Oct 26, Bishop David Urquhart was presented to the House of Lords by the Bishops of London and Wakefield in succession to the Bishop of Bradford, the Rt. Rev. David James, who retired in July.
Bishop Urquhart will be added to the roster of “duty bishops,” leading prayers in the Lords and participating in debates. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester are seated by right of office in the House of Lords, the remaining Lords Spiritual are composed of the 21 other senior diocesan bishops
After taking his seat, the House of Lords discussed the former government’s plans to reform the House of Lords, replacing it with a directly elected second chamber.
Labour peer Lord Grocott urged the government to carry through with plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600, and reduce the membership of the House of Lords to 300, arguing that such a reduction would see cost savings of £60 million a year.
“At a time when the government is looking for any possible cuts in public expenditure that they can find, and given that none of these reforms have any support among anyone out in the real world, why does the minister not do the common-sense thing, save the money and scrap the lot?” he said.
The Minister of State for Justice, Lord McNally, said the estimates offered by Lord Grocott were “idle speculation,” and suggested they wait for the government’s white paper on reform before arguing over costs.
“The noble Lord is giving numbers for a reformed House of Lords and calculating on his own bases. We will have to wait for the bill,” Lord McNally said, adding that “he and I will then make calculations and be able to assess the cost.”
