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Support grows for end to anti-catholic legislation

-29/03/05

A repeal of the historic ban on Catholics inheriting the British throne appears to be moving closer with the revelation that the Tory Leader Michael Howard now supports reform, and an editorial in the Daily Telegraph which backs such a move.

The Conservative leader used an interview with the Catholic Herald to point out that, since no other religion or denomination is singled out for such exclusion, it is an anachronism for Catholics to be so treated.

In the run-up to an election where he is seeking to reach beyond the traditional Tory vote, Mr Howard, himself a non-observant Jew, is seeking to modernise attitudes which strike voters as irrelevant.

“[Repealing the act] is something I would certainly consider, and think about, but it is not necessarily something you can make glib promises about because of the complications which exist,” Mr Howard told the paper.

Commenting on Michael Howard’s interview, The Daily Telegraph suggested that although the Tory leader’s grasp of constitutional law was “a little shaky” he had a point.

“Only Roman Catholics are barred from marrying the monarch. Prince William or, for that matter, Zenouska Mowatt (37th in line to the throne) may wed a Zoroastrian or Scientologist without losing the right of succession, but not a member of a Church to which five million Britons belong” the editorial said.

“In the end, this law does not just discriminate against Britain’s largest religious minority: it also curtails the human rights of a 22-year-old undergraduate, and in an area that really matters to him. As Prince William must have noticed, there are lots of pretty Catholic girls out there.”

However, the paper stopped short of calling for an end to the establishment of the Church of England.

“There is a requirement that the monarch should be in communion with the Church of England. This is discriminatory, but at least it discriminates against all non-Anglicans equally. Furthermore, its removal might lead to the disestablishment of the Church of England, in our view an unnecessary step” the newspaper said.