Bishops look set to lose their seats in the House of Lords after 700 years following the intervention of an influential group of MPs and peers.

The joint committee on Lords Reform is poised to decide that the 26 bishops who sit in the Upper House should be expelled, because they no longer reflect multicultural Britain.

Nick Clegg, who is in charge of House of Lords reform, is understood to be behind the proposals.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading calls to bar Bishops from the House of Lords in Parliament

But opponents – who include many on the Conservative backbenches – will see the move as another assault on Christianity by militant secularists.

The position of the bishops in the Lords dates back to Parliament’s beginnings in the thirteenth century.

The Lords Spiritual, as they are known, represent the Church of England, which is the established church. No other church, including the Scottish Presbyterians or the Catholics, have seats in the Lords – and no other religion is automatically represented.

Reformers say the bishops’ presence no longer reflects the make-up of religion in the UK, particularly as so many people follow no faith nowadays.

The Deputy Prime Minister published a white paper last year in which he called for 80 per cent of the Lords chamber to be elected, with the rest appointed. Under his plans, 12 of the bishops would retain their place in the Upper Chamber.

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