Welsh Secretary writes to Church leaders over Bishop's comments

18 Jun 2021 04:32 PM

Simon Hart thanks the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Bangor for their responses after he wrote to them about comments made by the Bishop of St Davids.

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart has thanked the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Bangor after they responded to his concerns over recent comments made by the Bishop of St Davids.

The Welsh Secretary wrote to Church leaders following the Bishop’s comments about Conservative Party voters, which were made on social media.

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart recently said:

I am incredibly grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Bangor for taking the trouble to respond to concerns raised about the Bishop of St Davids’ unacceptable Twitter activity.

Their comments should reassure the public – whether they are churchgoers or not – that the Church takes these concerns seriously and that there are no circumstances in which they can be justified.

We hope, and expect, that the Church will continue to engage with politicians, to challenge us and to hold us to account, but to do so in a way that avoids legitimate views being demeaned.

Read the full correspondence between the Welsh Secretary, the Archbishop and Canterbury and the Bishop of Bangor here:

Letter from the Secretary of State for Wales to the Archbishop of Canterbury (PDF, 159KB, 2 pages)

Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Secretary of State for Wales (PDF, 37.4KB, 1 page)

Letter from the Bishop of Bangor to the Secretary of State for Wales (PDF, 81.4KB, 2 pages)