- New legislation will mean Roman Catholic and Jewish Prime Ministers can provide advice on Church of England appointments to the King.
- This Bill will end archaic restrictions that prevent the Prime Minister exercising the full extent of their constitutional responsibilities.
Changes announced today will remove archaic legislation which prevents a Prime Minister of the Roman Catholic or Jewish faith from exercising their full constitutional responsibilities of advising the monarch on Church Appointments.
As principal adviser to the Monarch, providing advice on appointments to the Church of England is a part of the Prime Minister’s role.
Amendments were brought into law in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to remove restrictions on Catholic and Jewish people in public life. However, the restrictions on Church appointments were left in place, and that is what The Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill will remove.
Up until recently these restrictions had no practical effect as there has not been a Roman Catholic or Jewish Prime Minister, and these restrictions do not apply to people of other faiths or of no faith.
This short, targeted Bill will modernise the law to enable the Prime Minister, and any future Jewish or Roman Catholic Prime Minister to carry out the complete functions of their office.
In the interim, the Prime Minister has transferred the responsibility to the Lord Chancellor to ensure that Church appointments can continue.
This Bill is crucial in ensuring that all Prime Ministers can discharge this responsibility regardless of their personal religious beliefs.
Notably, the existing prohibition, which has stood for 197 years, applies specifically to Catholics and Jews; it does not prevent Muslims, members of other religions or those professing no religion from advising the monarch on appointments within the established churches. A Muslim Prime Minister could therefore perform a constitutional function from which a Catholic or Jewish Prime Minister remains legally excluded.
Although the Government has introduced legislation to remove this discriminatory anomaly, introducing a Bill does not guarantee that it will become law: it must still pass through both Houses of Parliament, survive any amendments or opposition, and receive Royal Assent before the prohibition is formally repealed.