The Bishop of Chester gave his maiden speech at the second reading of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill on 20th November 2025, emphasising the importance of sustainability and responsible stewardship of the earth, and the vital importance of air travel to communities:
The Lord Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their warm welcome, although I confess that sustainable aviation fuel was not a subject that I imagined I would be addressing when various noble Lords have given me advice about maiden speeches. I am grateful for their wisdom, warmth and welcome, and especially that of the doorkeepers and staff of this House. It seems that I should have taken them rather more literally when they said I would be working with high-flyers, and rather less literally when they pointed out that not everything was rocket science.
I speak as one born almost two and a half thousand miles from where we sit. Indeed, the first serious journey of my life was by air, back here to the UK. I am also a father and, like the rest of this noble House, entrusted with passing on entire to the next generation this good earth. Sustainability matters: the good Lord provided us with many things, but a spare planet was not among them, at least in this age. It is this balance of pragmatisms which means that I speak largely in support of the Bill. We need to be real about air travel being vital to modern life. It builds community, enables encounter and crosses divides.
Continue reading “Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill: Bishop of Chester gives maiden speech on stewardship and communities”
The Church of England in Parliament 
You must be logged in to post a comment.