Bishop attacks PM for failing to reform 1701 Act

BY FREDDY GRAY
A SCOTTISH bishop has launched a ferocious attack on Gordon Brown's new Government for its unwillingness to reform the "scandalous" Act of Settlement.
Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell said that the Labour Party had "reneged on its duty of justice and defence of human rights" by refusing to repeal the antiCatholic law.
"How can Gordon Brown expect Catholics and indeed all people of goodwill to keep faith with his Government?" he asked.
"For far too long governments of all political persuasions have been guilty of cant and hypocrisy.
"But this Labour government, more than any other, has cloaked itself as architect and guardian of the fundamental values of a tolerant multicultural society. We have now seen that such credentials are more spin than substance."
The 1701 Act of Settlement forbids the monarch to marry a Catholic and forces any member of the Royal Family who marries a Catholic to give up his or her place in the line of succession.
Bishop Devine applauded "the principled and moral stand" of Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party. MT Salmond demanded that the Act be consigned to the "dustbin of history".
He said it undermined efforts to tackle discrimination in Scotland.
Bishop Devine announced his intention to petition all party leaders to adopt the same attitude to the 1701 Act. "I shall be equally full of admiration for those other political leaders who follow his example,he said. Last month Gordon Brown, in one of his first acts as Prime Minister, reportedly dropped plans to revise the Act of Settlement so that it no longer discriminated specifically against Catholics.
The Prime Minister had been expected to introduce a new Bill of Rights that would have allowed individuals of any faith to hold all public offices.
But the Cabinet scrapped the plan. allegedly because of fears that the British establishment would not support it. The decision angered many Catholics. Cardinal Keith O'Brien of St Andrews said: "I remain deeply disappointed that the Act of Settlement will continue to exist and believe it constitutes state-sponsored sectarianism."
John Gummer MP, a former Cabinet Minister and adviser to the Conservative leader David Cameron, added: "It is an outrage that in a modern society the largest Christian denomination should be discriminated against.
"Mr Brown has listened to the most reactionary and out-of-touch people in British society. This bodes very badly for the rest of his short premiership."
Catholic Tory MP David Amess said the Prime Minister had given up on a "radical and sensible change" to the constitution.
"He has backed out of an important commitment, and as a result discrimination against Catholics will continue," he said.
Liberal Democrat MP Lorely Burt also described the Labour Party's reversal as "a cowardly move", She said: "Any sensible person can see that there is absolutely no need for these archaic laws. There is a fundamental principle of equality here, and equality should apply as much to Catholics as it does to any other group."
Several Church leaders and politicians over the past year have called on the Government to repeal the Act of Settlement.
Bishop Devine has become increasingly outspoken in his defence of the Church in recent years.
In 2005, as president of the Catholic Education Commission for the bishops, he was criticised for saying that homosexuals should not be allowed to teach in Church schools.