Lord Mann
Main Page: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Mann (Non-Afl) [V]
The last church meeting I attended was 40 years ago, when my concluding comment was that Church politics made even the Labour Party transparent in its operations—so it is a bit of a mystery to be participating as a new Member of the House of Lords in working through where the tax avoiders of Jersey ought to be linked in terms of the Church of England. It seems to me that at some stage, just as we give Ministers huge powers without making them come back to Parliament, greater powers, if not the entire power of the Church of England, ought to be given to the Church of England, which should not be required to come to Parliament—whether that requires disestablishment or not.
This issue arose because of allegations of child abuse, and Jersey has a particularly bad reputation for its approaches, systems and attitudes—so it is hardly a surprise to see the Church of England getting itself into such a tangle when allegations are made. However, it should be said that the approach of the Church of England in tackling child abuse over the past 10 years has been better than that of many other institutions in this country. There has been honesty and integrity in the way in which the leadership of the Church of England has faced up to many problems, and that should be part of the context of this debate. Frankly, if the Church of England wants to go in this particular direction, it should be allowed to do so. At some stage, we need to change the law so that it is not required to come back to Parliament to be authorised to make organisational changes of its own choice.