Woman bishop in Lords on landmark day

THE FIRST woman bishop with a place in the House of Lords took her seat on the day peers voted to block the Government’s planned cuts to tax credits, writes Rose Gamble.

Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester, said she wanted the Lords to send a “loud message” to the Chancellor, George Osborne, about the importance of protecting working families, but was unable to attend the voting session due to previous induction day commitments.

Peers voted 289 to 272 to delay the changes for three years, until systems could be put in place to protect low-paid workers. During the debate on 26 October, the Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth described the proposals as “grossly insensitive” to working parents and “morally indefensible”.

John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, warned of “unintended consequences” of the changes, saying they could leave the poorest “in the hands of loan sharks”.

Speaking on Tuesday at a press conference in London on his return from the Synod on the Family, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said that poverty broke families apart. Asked whether cuts to tax credits were right, the Cardinal said: “We have to see what the Chancellor comes up with.” The Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, urged the Government to adopt a “compassionate and humane approach”.