Call to end bar on Catholic monarch

Published on Tuesday 25 March 2008 21:49

THE government is to consider abolishing the 300-year-old Act of Settlement that prevents Catholics ascending to the throne.

The move was revealed by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, after he unveiled his sweeping draft Constitutional Reform Bill yesterday.

While the bill did not include any move to abolish what Catholics say is legalised discrimination, the matter was raised in the Commons by the Livingston Labour MP, Jim Devine, a Catholic.

Describing the act as "legalised sectarianism which has no role in the 21st century", he called for it to be scrapped.

Mr Straw told him the position was complicated by the monarch's position as head of the Anglican church but accepted the law was seen as "antiquated" and said: "We are certainly ready to consider this."

However, abolishing the Act of Settlement would also require changes to the Act of Union, which safeguards the role of the Protestant Presbyterian Church in Scotland. And, given Prime Minister Gordon Brown's fears of the influence of Nationalists, the government may be reluctant to unpick parts of the legislation that formally holds the UK together.

Measures contained in the draft bill unveiled by Mr Straw include revoking the Prime Minister's powers to send troops to war unilaterally.

In future, parliament would have a vote on sending armed forces into conflict. However, that would not be applied if parliament was in recess or for special forces' operations.

Other proposals include watering down the Prime Minister's powers to appoint Church of England bishops and enshrining civil servants' impartiality in law for the first time. The relaxation of rules governing the flying of the Union Flag from public buildings would continue.

Since becoming Prime Minister last year, Mr Brown has emphasised the need for far-reaching constitutional reforms to restore trust in government after the controversies over the Iraq war and the "cash for honours" affair.

Mr Straw said the latest measures were not a "final blueprint", but part of a much wider programme of building a "new constitutional settlement".

For the Tories, shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert warned that "unbalanced devolution has unleashed the forces of Nationalism" and there was still no answer to the West Lothian question.