Lords Spiritual

The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. Up to 26 of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual (not including retired bishops who sit by right of a peerage). The Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, and the Anglican churches in Wales and in Northern Ireland, which are no longer established churches, are not represented. The Lords Spiritual are distinct from the Lords Temporal, their secular counterparts who also sit in the House of Lords. Ranks and titles There are 42 dioceses in the Church of England, each led by a diocesan bishop. The archbishop of Canterbury and the archbishop of York, as Primate of All England and Primate of England, respectively, have oversight over their corresponding ecclesiastical provinces. The occupants of the five "great sees" – Canterbury, York, London, Durham and Winchester – are always Lords Spiritual. Of the remaining 37 bishops, the 21 most senior usually sit in the House of Lords. Following the first ordinations of female bishops in the Church of England, the normal operation of this rule was suspended by the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015, which provides that until 2025 every woman appointed as a diocesan bishop will automatically become a Lord Spiritual when a vacancy next arises, regardless of seniority, so as to increase the representation of female bishops in the House. Otherwise, seniority is determined by total length of service as an English diocesan bishop (that is to say, it is not lost by translation to another see). The Bishop of Sodor and Man and the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe do not sit in the House of Lords regardless of seniority, as their dioceses lie outside both England and the United Kingdom. Theoretically, the power to elect archbishops and bishops is vested in the diocesan cathedral's college of canons. Practically, however, the choice of the archbishop or bishop is made prior to the election. The prime minister chooses from among a set of nominees proposed by the Crown Nominations Commission, and the sovereign then instructs the college of canons to elect the nominated individual as a bishop or archbishop.