The purpose of the Act was to remove the disqualifications for clergy in standing for election as Members of Parliament and sitting in the House of Commons.

The Act also allowed clergy to sit in other elected bodies including the European Parliament.

The act does, however, expressly reaffirm the continuing disqualification of those bishops of the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual, as no person may sit in both Houses of Parliament at the same time.

The Bill was a reaction to the selection of David Cairns, a laicised Catholic priest, as the Labour candidate for the safe seat of Greenock and Inverclyde.

Member of Parliament Siobhain McDonagh had previously introduced similar legislation in 1999, but it had run out of parliamentary time.