THE new Archbishop of Canterbury has personally backed an inquiry into how the Church of England can loosen or sever its links with the State.

Dr Rowan Williams, who was yesterday ceremonially confirmed as successor to Dr George Carey, has urged the respected Constitution Unit at London University to draw up a detailed blueprint for the Church’s disestablishment.

A draft copy of proposals for the new Archbishop, obtained by The Times, state that the measure would have “huge symbolic and real practical benefits — only gilded vested interests would lose”.

Although Dr Williams has not yet seen the document, his support for the inquiry underlines the radical agenda he will take to Lambeth Palace when he takes over in the new year.

The Government has said it would be interested in disestablishment only if the Church supported it. Tony Blair knows that change would have profound constitutional implications not least for the Prince of Wales who, as heir to the throne, is barred from marrying a Roman Catholic.

Dr Williams was previously Archbishop of Wales, and believes it benefited greatly from being set free from the State in 1920. The draft document says: “Until recently, disestablishment was a non-starter. The Church of England did not want it, the State (in the shape of Tony Blair) did not want it; neither Buckingham nor St James’s Palace wanted it. But now we have an Archbishop of Canterbury who comes from a disestablished Church.”

In an interview broadcast last weekend, Dr Williams said that the establishment of the Church of England was not “a single thing which you could remove at one stroke... there are a million little silken cords that bind the Church and social structures tighter.”

The paper says that cutting links with the State would involve scrapping laws passed since Henry VIII set himself up as supreme ruler of the Church almost 500 years ago.

One suggestion is for a gradual approach under which the Church would be freed from parliamentary or Crown interference, while retaining its “national” role. The document points out that a number of these points are already being examined with talk of Coronation Oaths for future monarchs being changed and discussion of far-reaching changes to church governance.

The commissioners who run the Church’s £800 million a year budget are currently accountable only to the General Synod and Parliament — which shows little interest in their accounts. The paper describes this system as “power without responsibility”.

Downing Street’s strategy unit has proposed the commissioners be subject to scrutiny from the Charity Commission following a series of loss-making investments.

At the same time the right of bishops to sit in the House of Lords is being considered by Parliament’s joint committee on the future of the Upper House.

“If ex-officio bishops leave the Lords is the rest of establishment worth the candle?” asks the document. “No, and the biggest gainers from establishment will be the CofE worshippers.”

The Constitution Unit paper argues that churchgoers will gain from control over their own appointments, ending the system whereby senior posts are approved by Downing Street. “No other Church can understand how Anglicans tolerate their bishops being appointed by someone who need not be an Anglican or even a Christian. Margaret Thatcher’s views on bishops have surely not been forgotten.”

A spokesman for Dr Williams last night confirmed that the new Archbishop was “looking for more information generally about the whole nature of disestablishment and the shape of a national Church”.

He added: “Dr Williams is at the stage of exploring questions about the Church and State. He takes an evolutionary view on the basis that this relationship has constantly evolved. While he has worked with the Welsh disestablishment he does not assume that is the right model for England.”

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