As senior members of the Church of England, which is the established church, some bishops are entitled to sit in the House of Lords.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester and 21 other bishops in order of seniority together form the “Lords Spiritual”, and take a full part in parliamentary business, as well as reading prayers at the start of each daily meeting.

You can read more about the history of the Lords Spiritual here, and there is a website devoted to following what our bishops do and say in Parliament with a weekly round-up of their contributions: www.churchinparliament.org.