Brown ditches plan to repeal anti-Catholic law

Cardinal O'Brien says new PM ignored his appeal
BY MARK GREAVES
IN ONE OF his first acts since taking office, Gordon Brown this week scrapped plans to end Britain's historic discrimination against Catholics.
His decision infuriated leading Catholics, including Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who accused the new Prime Minister of supporting "state-sponsored sectarianism".
Mr Brown had been expected to announce radical changes to the constitution that would replace the 1701 Act of Settlement, under which the monarch is forbidden to marry a Catholic, and a member of the Royal Family who marries a Catholic loses his or her place in the line of succession.
The Prime Minister's inner circle had drawn up plans for a Bill of Rights that would have allowed people of any faith to hold public office.
But they were mysteriously dropped over the weekend — apparently because of fears that the British establishment would not support them.
In the event, on Monday Mr Brown outlined more modest constitutional changes that include giving up his right to appoint Church of England bishops. Cardinal O'Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said: "I am deeply disappointed at the statement from Gordon Brown.
"I remain deeply disappointed that the Act of Settlement will continue to exist and believe it constitutes state-sponsored sectarianism."
John Gununer MP, a former Cabinet Minister and adviser to David Cameron, said: "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 been persuaded to abandon 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 condemned Mr Brown's apparent volte-face. "This is 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 Tony Blair to repeal the Act of Settlement.
Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party and now Scotland's First Minister, demanded that the Act be consigned to the "dustbin of history". He said it undermined efforts to tackle discrimination in Scotland.
Cardinal O'Brien argued in an interview with Scotland on Sunday in August that the "shadowy sectarian culture" in Scotland would continue to thrive until the law was amended.
Mr Blair acknowledged that the Act was unfair but said the process of repealing it would be too complicated as it would require changes to legislation in many Commonwealth countries.
Cardinal O'Brien said this week that he also wrote to Gordon Brown last year urging him to reform the Act of Settlement.
He said: "I wrote to Gordon Brown in April 2006 following comments he made on the role of the Prime Minister in the selection of Church of England bishops to say that the terms of the Act of Settlement were anachronistic and that it was 'an outstanding example of bigotry and sectarianism in the United Kingdom'.
"I urged him to consider these views but did not receive a reply."
In June 2002 Cardinal Cormac MurphyO'Connor, too, criticised the Act, pointing out that Prince William "can marry by law a Hindu, a Buddhist, anyone, but not a Roman Catholic", without renouncing his claim to the throne.
But this week the Cardinal's spokesman declined to comment on the dmitroversy.
The Bill of Rights of 1689 states that anybody "who shall profess the Popish religion, or shall marry a Papist, shall be excluded and be forever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the crown".
This ban was reinforced by the Act of Settlement in 1701, which insisted that the monarch must "join in communion" with the Church of England.
Andrew McKie: Page 10