Lords scrutiny of Church of Scotland bill concludes
25 March 2025
Members of the House of Lords completed their consideration of the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill, at commitee stage and all remaining stages on Monday 24 March.
The Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill will remove the restriction on Roman Catholics holding the office of HM Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Line by line check
Committee stage is a thorough examination of the individual parts (clauses) of the bill.
Proposed changes
No amendments were proposed ahead of committee stage. As no changes were discussed, the bill progressed directly to third reading, which occurred on the same day.
This process is known as 'order of commitment discharged'.
Catch up
- Watch on Parliament TV.
- Read the Lords Hansard transcript .
Explore further information
- Find out more about the bill in the House of Lords Library briefing.
Next steps
Following agreement by both Houses on the text of the bill it received Royal Assent on Thursday 3 April. The bill is now an Act of Parliament (law).
What's happened so far?
Second reading: Wednesday 19 March
During second reading members discussed the main issues in the bill and highlight concerns or specific areas where they think amendments (changes) are needed.
Members speaking
Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour), Leader of the House of Lords, opened the debate and responded on behalf of the government.
Contributing members included:
- Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour), former Leader of the Scottish Labour Party
- Baroness Goldie (Conservative), elder of the Church of Scotland
- Lord Hope of Craighead (Crossbench) former Lord Justice General of Scotland
- Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat) former Advocate General for Scotland.
Catch up
- Watch the Parliament TV recording.
- Read the Lords Hansard transcript.
Image: Unsplash / Eduardo Madrid
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