The Bishop of Lichfield gave his valedictory speech at the second reading of the Representation of the People Bill on 14th September 2026, on the role of the Church in civic engagement and the contributions of faith communities to democracy:
The Lord Bishop of Lichfield: My Lords, this is an important and timely debate, as any opportunity to re-establish trust in politics is one that we must embrace eagerly. We are sadly familiar with the phrase, “A plague on both your houses”, used in a political context. The word “both” may be rather out of date, but the sentiment expressed encapsulates the frustration that many voters feel with the entire political system, thus overlooking many principled, honest and hard-working MPs, Peers and their staff.
I will mention two points in particular. First, in my visits to prisons, I meet many men with time to think and to think deeply. Most people come to serve their sentence in prison only after a string of failures: personal failures and the failures of services, systems and institutions, including the Church. To have that direct and painful experience of system failure and yet, through disenfranchisement, to have no means to participate in efforts for their correction or renewal, can further erode any sense of civic engagement and belonging. I hope that this House will consider whether votes might be extended to at least some convicted prisoners as one dimension of the penal journey to rehabilitation.
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