On 22nd March 2022, the House of Lords considered Commons amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Votes were held on further amendments to the bill, in which Bishops took part.
Division 1:
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds and the Bishop of St Albans took part in a vote on an amendment put forward by Lord Rooker:
Lord Rooker moved, as an amendment to Motion A, to leave out from “House” to end and insert “do insist on its Amendment 58”.
Lord Rooker: Amendment 58 seeks to place the new section after Section 114B in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Section 114B(1) states:
“The Secretary of State may by regulations apply any provision of this Act which relates to investigations of offences conducted by police officers to investigations of labour market offences conducted by labour abuse prevention officers.”
That was the bit that the Government put in the PACE Act to help over exactly the same problem with the gangmasters. Amendment 58 is taken from subsection (1) of that part of the legislation.
In a public presentation last Friday of the Food Standards Agency’s new five-year plan, the current chair, Professor Susan Jebb, said:
“We are pursuing greater powers for the National Food Crime Unit”.
This amendment does just that. There is no pressure on timing. The Secretary of State “may” act. It is pure enabling. Hansard
The amendment was agreed. Content: 181 / Not Content 157.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, and the Bishop of Leeds voted Content. The Bishop of St Albans voted Not Content.
Division 2:
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds, and the Bishop of St Albans took part in a vote on an amendment tabled by Lord Russell of Liverpool:
Lord Russell: This Amendment 72B in Motion D1 is a response to the rejection by another place of that amendment, which, in essence, argued that we should make misogyny a hate crime. The debate about misogyny—what it is and what we should do about it—was discussed at length in the passage of the Domestic Abuse Bill last spring. One result of that debate was that, in return for particular amendments not being pressed, as the Minister indicated, Her Majesty’s Government agreed almost exactly one year ago—which is also the anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard—at the Dispatch Box to mandate all police forces in England and Wales to undertake a trial period of recording misogynistic hate crimes. That undertaking was given with an undertaking that it would begin in autumn 2021—not 2022, not 2023, not 2024 but autumn 2021. Noble Lords will not be surprised to hear that I will be returning to that subject later. Hansard
The amendment was agreed. Content: 198 / Not Content: 155.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds, and the Bishop of St Albans voted Content.
Division 3:
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds and the Bishop of Durham took part in a vote on an amendment tabled by Lord Coaker:
Lord Coaker: My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply and all noble Lords who have responded to the debate on my amendment. I do not want to detain the House because there is a lot of other business to pursue. Let me just say that the noise provision is the one we really object to. I think that, if it is passed, in a year or two years, a senior police officer will restrict a demonstration on the basis of noise. The Minister has prayed in aid public opinion in her favour. The public will ask who on earth passed legislation that means they cannot demonstrate in a democracy in their own country—who allowed that to happen? It will be this Parliament, and for that reason I press Motion E1. Hansard
The amendment was agreed. Content: 208 / Not Content: 166.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds and the Bishop of Durham voted content.
Division 4:
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds and the Bishop of Durham took part in a vote on an amendment tabled by Lord Paddick to curtail police powers to ban assemblies.
The amendment was agreed. Content: 190 / Not Content: 175.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Leeds and the Bishop of Durham voted content.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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