Canadian ‘no’ to repeal of the Act of Settlement: The Church of England Newspaper, Jan 28, 2011 p 8.

MP Keith Vaz holding aloft his bill to repeal the Act of Settlement

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Canadian government has rejected the pleas of Labour MP Keith Vaz to support his bill to repeal the 1701 Act of Settlement.

On Jan 23, Mr. Vaz, the member for Leicester East, presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill to the House of Commons calling for the “removal of any distinction between the sexes in determination the succession to the Crown” and to remove prohibition that the monarch and his or her consort be members of the Church of England.

In a statement released this week on his website, Mr. Vaz stated that “with the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, we have a once in a generation opportunity to change the law. Prince William looks like a very modern Prince. If he has a daughter first, it is only right that she become Queen of England.”

Mr Vaz has sought the support of the Royal family, the government and the leaders of the 15 Commonwealth nations were the Queen is head of state for their support, and has claimed a majority of his constituents support “equal rights in succession” for the monarch.

However the coalition government and past Labour governments have not taken up the issue.  In a written answer given to the House of Commons on June 30, Cabinet Office minister Mark Harper stated “there are no current plans to amend the laws on succession.”

Passed by Parliament in 1701 to govern the succession of the monarch, the Act requires the sovereign to “join in communion with the Church of England” and forbids marriage to a “papist.”  It also adopted the principle of primogenitor, giving the eldest male child of the monarch precedence over any older sisters.

In 2001 Prime Minister Tony Blair raised the issue but did not take the matter forward while Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008 stated that “most people recognise the need for change. Change can only be brought about by not just the UK but all realms where Her Majesty is Queen making a decision to change.”

However, he took no further action and did not raise the issue during the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key reported at the time.

Altering the Act of Succession must be approved by the governments where the Queen is the constitutional monarch and sovereign: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu.

While a popular sentiment would support a change, the political costs make its repeal unlikely.  In Canada, the provinces must endorse a change to the country’s constitution—including the status of the monarch.  Amending the Canadian constitution would reopen the intractable debate over the status of Quebec, and possibly led to the unraveling of the country.

A spokesman for the Canadian prime minister told Postmedia News last week “this issue is not a priority for the government or for Canadians without further elaboration on the merits or drawbacks of the proposed reforms.”