---

Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill

Let me make two points in response to that. First, there is much in the Act of Settlement—I will refer to that rather than to the Bill of Rights—that we would now find either otiose or offensive. Some years ago, The Guardian launched its own campaign to bring an action under the Human Rights Act to deal with this and other points. It highlighted the fact that the Act of Settlement says, in addition to the point to which the hon. Gentleman draws attention, that:""All future monarchs must join in communion with the Church of England…The sovereign must promise to uphold the Protestant succession…The monarch must not involve the country in wars to defend the territory of foreign monarchs…No judges should be appointed by the monarch…Impeachment by the House of Commons is not subject to pardon under the Great Seal of England."" As soon as one begins to tinker with the constitutional framework—