National
Lord Spiritual
How it's filled
- In plain words
- Held automatically by another office
- Exact method
- Up to 26 Church of England bishops sit by right of office: the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and the 21 most senior other diocesan bishops (Bishoprics Act 1878; Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015).
- Seats
- 26
Who holds these seats now
- The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury since February 2026 Report
- The Lord Archbishop of York since July 2020 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells since August 2026 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford since June 2021 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Chester since June 2025 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Coventry since March 2025 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Derby since March 2019 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Durham since July 2026 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Ely since July 2026 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Gloucester since September 2015 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Hereford since November 2023 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Leicester since October 2022 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Manchester since July 2020 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Newcastle since September 2023 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Norwich since October 2023 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Peterborough since October 2024 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Portsmouth since September 2025 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Rochester since August 2026 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Salisbury since July 2026 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Sheffield since January 2023 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham since April 2022 Report
- The Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich since December 2025 Report
- The Lord Bishop of Winchester since November 2023 Report
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk · checked legislation.gov.uk, Bishoprics Act 1878 s.5, read 2026-10-12: the number of Lords Spiritual sitting in the House of Lords is fixed at 26 (vacancies leave seats unfilled), so seats_kind = fixed. For: Lord Spiritual
- members-api.parliament.uk · checked UK Parliament Members API, Members/Search House=1 and House=2 IsCurrentMember=true, read 2026-10-12: current MPs and Lords with constituency, party, membership start date. MPs whose membership began before 2024-07-04 get the 2024 general election date as the start of this term. Disqualified peers (2) excluded; peers on leave of absence or suspended are kept and marked in the term note. For: Lord Spiritual
Know an official source for something on this page? Please tell us.
We're still adding some details for this area. Report something missing.