For a long time, non religious MPs felt that they had to swear the oath for fear of judgement and a perceived lack of morals. It’s fantastic that this is changing and that more and more MPs feel that they can be honest and make the conscientious choice for affirmation without being judged.

The UK remains one of the least religious societies, yet we have one of the most religious states in the world. Our head of state, the monarch, has to be a member of the Church of England and 26 bishops, representatives of the national church, sit in our parliament and vote on our laws. A third of our state schools are run by religious groups which are funded entirely by the taxpayer and they can choose children on religious grounds and teach an unbalanced curriculum. All of our hospitals and prisons have state church chaplains. They have to have Church of England chaplains with other religions getting a little bit of a look in, and humanist pastoral care getting an even tinier look in.

It’s time to reassess and reform the role of religion in the state!