Lib Dems call for Queen to resign as head of the Church of England

The Queen should no longer be the head of the Church of England, Liberal Democrats have voted, at their annual party conference in Bournemouth. A resolution the the head of state should be "barred from holding a position of high authority within any denomination, church or faith" was passed overwhelmingly. The conference also approved an amendment which would allow the heir to the throne to marry a Catholic. The moves followed appeals by Liberal Democrat Youth and Students representative Alex Feakes. He called on members to consider "preventing the anomalous position of our head of state automatically being the head of the church", arguing that such an anomaly was off-putting for non-Anglicans. "The very fact that the Queen as the head of state is also automatically the head of the church is offensive," he said. "To them, this arrangement does not represent the facts on the ground. There are many people in this country who do not identify with the Queen as head of state presumably because to them she automatically represents a different church from their own. "Don't get me wrong, I've no bone to pick with the Queen. But she does not, in her role as head of the Church of England, represent the millions of people from Muslim, Hindu or Jewish backgrounds in this country, let alone those who have a different Christian denominations or faiths."