Totally with @kimleadbeater here. And this is no longer about one bill but a system. When any legislation can be buried by procedure in the House of Lords, the question is: why do appointed figures, political, professional or ecclesiastical, hold the power to override the elected will of the people? As a priest of @churchofengland , I am dismayed that @ArchbishopSarah @CottrellStephen and the rest of the bishops have not only failed to confront this, but continue to benefit from it. None of us can claim moral authority while occupying seats that depend on power without democratic consent. Silence in the face of this is not neutrality but complicity. A chamber built on appointment cannot claim democratic authority. When unelected voices can block the will of the Commons, it is not scrutiny but obstruction. It is power without mandate, authority without accountability, and influence without consent. And where power refuses accountability, it loses its moral claim. The bishops should know this all too well as trust in them in the church is at a very low ebb indeed. Reform of the second chamber is no longer a matter of preference, it is an essential matter of justice. Democracy cannot survive where power answers only to itself. theguardian.com/commentisfre…