On 13th December 2022, the House of Lords debated the 2022 Voter ID Regulations. A vote was held on an amendment to the regulations, in which Bishops took part:
Votes: Voter ID Regulations
Tag: voting
Elections Bill: Bishop of Coventry speaks about Voter ID
On 21st March 2022, the House of Lords debated the Elections Bill in committee. The Bishop of Coventry spoke in the debate:
The Lord Bishop of Coventry: My Lords, I offer your Lordships an apology for not being able to contribute to Committee for all sorts of reasons, but I said at Second Reading that I would support amendments that introduced mitigating factors to reduce the risk of unintended exclusion, particularly for that group of people the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, referred to: those on lower incomes. There is real risk that that could happen through this immediate introduction of photo ID.
Continue reading “Elections Bill: Bishop of Coventry speaks about Voter ID”Elections Bill: Bishop of Leeds asks about Voter ID
On 21st March 2022, the House of Lords debated the Elections Bill in committee. The Bishop of Leeds asked a question regarding voter ID:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: What I am struggling to understand is this. There is a fundamental difference between belonging to an organisation—be it any political party—to which you opt to belong and for which you might be expected to provide ID, and being able to vote as a citizen of the country. Those are totally different things.
Continue reading “Elections Bill: Bishop of Leeds asks about Voter ID”Elections Bill: Bishop of Coventry questions necessity of photo ID
On 23rd February 2022, the House of Lords debated the Elections Bill in its second reading. The Bishop of Coventry spoke in the debate, highlighting potential risks of the introduction of photo ID for voters:
The Lord Bishop of Coventry: My Lords, I too join in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Moore, for his subtle and penetrating speech. I do so as someone who originates from Sussex, albeit the western part.
I shall address just one aspect of this Bill—the introduction of photographic ID. Other noble Lords have already raised specific issues presented by this clause. I echo their concerns, and I question whether photo ID is consistent with the UK’s democratic heritage. The fundamental duty of government as we know it is to ensure that all citizens have access to the resources they need to play a full part in the democratic process. Any action that risks reducing democratic engagement, especially one which excludes a significant sector of society, needs the most careful consideration, and it should be based on very sound evidence.
Continue reading “Elections Bill: Bishop of Coventry questions necessity of photo ID”Bishop of St Albans calls on Government to include churches in voter registration initiatives
Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support National Voter Registration Day on Wednesday 5 February, which seeks to encourage new, especially young, people to register to vote.
The Bishop of St Albans asked a supplementary question:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, the Church of England is involved in the education of more than 1 million young people and we want to play our part in supporting this. Will Her Majesty’s Government talk with the department to see if, in future, they will write not only to schools but to the 43 statutory diocesan boards of education, many of which employ full-time schools workers, and to dioceses? My diocese has an average of 30 to 40 full-time paid youth workers and many volunteer ones. We would be delighted to use our communication resources to support this sort of initiative.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, the Government recognise that they alone cannot do everything in this regard. We welcome conversations with all other organisations. I wondered whether the right reverend Prelate was going to promise that the Church of England would give sermons on the subject. Once, when I was a parliamentary candidate, I was taken by a young woman called Liz Barker—the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, as she is now—to the Methodist church in which her father had been a minister. The sermon came as close as possible to suggesting that the congregation might like to vote for me.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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