Lords Spiritual
The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom., there are current Lords Spiritual, of a maximum of 26.
The archbishop of Canterbury, the archbishop of York, and the bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester are always Lords Spiritual. The remaining 21 Lords Spiritual are typically appointed based on length of service as a diocesan bishop. However, the Lords Spiritual Act 2015, which is in force until 2030, gives female bishops priority in appointments. When a vacancy arises, if a woman is eligible to become a Lord Spiritual then she must be appointed, and if more than one woman is eligible then the appointment is decided on length of service.
The Lords Spiritual are distinct from the Lords Temporal, their secular counterparts who make up the majority of the House of Lords. When a Lord Spiritual retires as a bishop they may be given a life peerage, which allows them to continue to sit in the Lords as a Lord Temporal. Because only the Church of England is an established church in any country of the United Kingdom, representatives of other churches cannot be appointed Lords Spiritual; this includes the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland and the Church of Scotland.
Ranks and titles
There are 42 dioceses in the Church of England, each led by a diocesan bishop. The archbishop of Canterbury and the archbishop of York, as Primate of All England and Primate of England, respectively, have oversight over their corresponding ecclesiastical provinces. The occupants of the five "great sees" – Canterbury, York, London, Durham and Winchester – are always Lords Spiritual.Of the remaining 37 bishops, the 21 most senior usually sit in the House of Lords. Following the first ordinations of female bishops in the Church of England, the normal operation of this rule was suspended by the Lords Spiritual Act 2015, which provides that until 2030 every woman appointed as a diocesan bishop will automatically become a Lord Spiritual when a vacancy next arises, regardless of seniority, so as to increase the representation of female bishops in the House. Otherwise, seniority is determined by total length of service as an English diocesan bishop. The bishop of Sodor and Man and the bishop of Gibraltar in Europe do not sit in the House of Lords regardless of seniority, as their dioceses lie outside both England and the United Kingdom.
Theoretically, the power to elect archbishops and bishops is vested in the diocesan cathedral's college of canons. Practically, however, the choice of the archbishop or bishop is made prior to the election. The prime minister chooses from among a set of nominees proposed by the Crown Nominations Commission, and the sovereign then instructs the college of canons to elect the nominated individual as a bishop or archbishop.
One of the Lords Spiritual is appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury to be the convenor of the bench; he or she coordinates the work of the bishops in the House. David Walker, bishop of Manchester, was appointed the current convenor effective 1 June 2025.
Status as peers
Even during the early years of the peerage, the position of bishops was unclear. During the reign of King Richard II, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared, "of right and by the custom of the realm of England it belongeth to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being as well as others his suffragans, brethren and fellow Bishops, Abbots and Priors and other prelates whatsoever,—to be present in person in all the King's Parliaments whatsoever as Peers of the Realm". The claim was neither agreed nor disagreed to, however, by Parliament.The Lords Spiritual at first declared themselves entirely outside the jurisdiction of secular authorities; the question of trial in the House of Lords did not arise. When papal authority was great, the king could do little but admit a lack of jurisdiction over the prelates. Later, however, when the power of the pope in England was reduced, the Lords Spiritual came under the authority of the secular courts. The jurisdiction of the common courts was clearly established by the time of Henry VIII, who declared himself head of the Church of England in place of the pope, ending the constitutional power of the Roman Catholic Church in England.
Despite their failure to be tried as temporal peers in the House of Lords, it remained unclear whether the Lords Spiritual were indeed peers. In 1688, the issue arose during the trial of the Seven Bishops—William Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury; Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet, bishop of Winchester; Thomas Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells; John Lake, bishop of Chester; William Lloyd, bishop of Worcester; Francis Turner, bishop of Ely; and Thomas White, bishop of Peterborough—by a common jury. The charge was that a petition sent by the bishops constituted seditious libel; the Bishops argued that they had the right to petition the sovereign at any time, while the prosecution charged that such a right was only permissible when Parliament was in session. If the bishops were only Lords of Parliament, and not peers, their right to petition would be vitiated while Parliament was dissolved. Peers, however, were and still are counsellors of the sovereign whether Parliament is in session or not; therefore, if the bishops were indeed peers, they would be free to send petitions. Since there was no doubt that the petition was actually sent, while the court still ruled the bishops not guilty, it appears that it was taken for granted that the bishops were counsellors of the Crown.
Nevertheless, the Standing Orders of the House of Lords provide, "Bishops to whom a writ of summons has been issued are not Peers but are Lords of Parliament."
Number
In the early history of the Parliament of England, the Lords Spiritual—including the abbots—outnumbered the Lords Temporal. Between 1536 and 1540, however, King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, thereby removing the seats of the abbots. For the first time, and from then on, the Lords Spiritual formed a minority in the House of Lords.In addition to the 21 older dioceses, Henry VIII created six new ones, of which five survived ; the Bishops of the Church of England were excluded in 1642 but regained their seats following the Stuart Restoration; from then until the early 19th century no new sees were created, and the number of Lords Spiritual remained at 26.
Bishops, abbots, and priors of the Church of Scotland historically sat in the Parliament of Scotland. Laymen acquired the monasteries in 1560, following the Scottish Reformation, and therefore those sitting as "abbots" and "priors" were all laymen after that time. Bishops of the Church of Scotland continued to sit, regardless of their religious conformity. Roman Catholic clergy were excluded in 1567, but Episcopal bishops continued to sit until they too were excluded in 1638. The bishops regained their seats following the Restoration, but were again excluded in 1689, following the final abolition of diocesan bishops and the permanent establishment of the Church of Scotland as Presbyterian. There are no longer bishops in the Church of Scotland, and that church has never sent any clergy to sit in the House of Lords at Westminster.
Bishops and archbishops of the Church of Ireland were entitled to sit in the Irish House of Lords as Lords Spiritual. They obtained representation in the Westminster House of Lords after the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. Of the Church of Ireland's ecclesiastics, four were to sit at any one time, with the members rotating at the end of every parliamentary session. The Church of Ireland, however, was disestablished in 1871, and thereafter ceased to be represented by Lords Spiritual.
The Bishop of Sodor and Man, although a Bishop of the Church of England, has never been included among the Lords Spiritual, as the Isle of Man has never been part of the Kingdom of England or of the United Kingdom. The bishop is the holder of the oldest office in Tynwald and remains an ex officio member of Tynwald Court and of the island's Legislative Council, although this has recently been the subject of some controversy.
In the early 19th century, as the population of industrial cities grew, the Church of England proposed two new bishoprics for Leeds and Manchester, but the government refused to increase the number of Lords Spiritual. The Church was reluctant to have two classes of diocesan bishops, and decided to combine other dioceses to allow for the new dioceses. In 1836, the first new bishopric was founded, that of Ripon; but it was balanced out by the merger of the bishoprics of Bristol and Gloucester. The creation of the bishopric of Manchester was also planned but delayed until the dioceses of St Asaph and Bangor could be merged. They never were, but the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847 went ahead anyway with an alternative way to maintain the 26-bishop limit in the House of Lords: the seniority-based proviso which has been maintained to this day. However, the Lords Spiritual Act 2015 gives any woman appointed a diocesan bishop in England during the next decade priority in succeeding those among the current 21 who retire during that period. Rachel Treweek became bishop of Gloucester and the first female Lord Spiritual under the Act in 2015; Christine Hardman became the second later that year.
In 1920, with the independence of the Church in Wales from the Church of England and its disestablishment, the Welsh bishops stopped being eligible for inclusion.
The 26 seats for the Lords Spiritual make up per cent of the total membership of the House of Lords.
Politics
Although the Lords Spiritual have no party affiliation, they do not sit on the crossbenches; their seats are on the Government side of the Lords chamber, also known as the "spiritual side", on the right-hand side of and nearest to the throne. Though in a full sitting the Bishops occupy almost three rows, their front bench is subtly distinguished by being the only one in the House with a single armrest at either end; it is on the front row, close to the throne end of the chamber, indicating their unique status.By custom, at least one of the bishops reads prayers in each legislative day. They often speak in debates; in 2004 Rowan Williams, then archbishop of Canterbury, opened a debate into sentencing legislation. Measures must be put before the Lords, and the Lords Spiritual have a role in ensuring that this takes place.