The Government should intervene to prevent the Church of England from rejecting plans to allow women to be bishops on a "technicality", senior MPs have said.
Anglican dioceses are currently considering whether to pass the landmark legislation before it returns to the General Synod, the Church's ruling body, next year.
But a cross-party group of influential MPs - including Labour former ministers Frank Field and David Blunkett and Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes - are concerned that the measure will not be passed by the General Synod due to a technicality.
Mr Field has tabled an early day motion (EDM) calling for the removal of the Church's current exemption from equality laws relating to gender discrimination so that the loophole cannot be used by the Church to dismiss the measure.
In the motion, Mr Field notes that the General Synod expects to debate the final approval stage in July 2012.
The EDM "encourages the House of Bishops to commend the measure as currently drafted; and calls upon Her Majesty's government to remove any exemptions pertaining to gender under existing equality legislation, in the event that the measure has overwhelming support in the dioceses but fails through a technicality to receive final approval in General Synod."
The motion is also supported by Labour's Diana Johnson, Stephen Timms and Natascha Engel, and veteran Conservative Peter Bottomley.
