We noted last week that the Prime Minister had stated the Government’s intention to remove the bar on persons professing the Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths from advising the Sovereign on appointments to the Church of England and Church of Scotland. The parliamentary process to do this started yesterday when the Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill was given a first reading in the House of Commons.
The text of the bill and a set of explanatory notes have been published. There is also a press release.
Included in the explanatory notes is a statement that “The Government intends to ask Parliament to expedite the parliamentary progress of this Bill.” The progress of the bill through Parliament can be followed here.
Here are some relevant online articles.
[Some of these links have appeared in comments to other posts, but I thought it would be helpful to collect them all here.]