Letter: Bishops are not fat cats

NORMAN BAKER, MP for Middlesbrough, has taken a lead in efforts to reduce the costs of supporting bishops. I presume, therefore, that he will take an immediate pay cut to pounds 21,760, the reported stipend for a suffragan bishop. There are far more MPs in England than bishops, so the savings to be had are far greater.

As for Mr Baker's suggestion that the budget for the support of bishops be diverted to the poor, the Gospels report a similar suggestion being made by a certain Mr Iscariot.

Rev Alan T Perry

Quebec, Canada