House of Lords Reform (Draft Bill)

Liz Kendall Excerpts

Tuesday 17th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his remarks, and I agree that the notion that somehow more democracy can weaken a legislature would strike most people outside this Chamber as an extraordinarily peculiar argument.

[Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)]

Does the Deputy Prime Minister personally believe that there is a case for keeping bishops in the House of Lords, and if so, what is it?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I said earlier, the Church is an established Church. We have set out proposals in the Bill, however, under which if progress were to be made on a largely elected, but partly appointed, House of Lords, on a supernumerary basis the Church would be represented but on a much smaller scale than we now—[Interruption.] The Bill envisages a cut from 26 bishops to 12.