The issue of disestablishing the Church of England is “in the air”, says Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor.

He has proposed making the Archbishop of Canterbury the Supreme Governor of the Church, rather than the monarch.

Speaking on the BBC’s Decision Time programme, Lord Falconer said that a discussion on disestablishment “needs to be had”.

His comments follow the publication of a review of the issue by the Constitutional Unit of University College London. “Church and State in the 21st Century: The Future of Church Establishment”, written by Bob Morris, claims that the UK is confined in the political structures of the 17th century and needs to re-examine church-state relations.

Lord Falconer claimed that the Church of England was prevented from staying “in tune” with English society on issues such as homosexuality, because of the influence of more conservative Anglican provinces around the world.

“Its role as a Church able to speak in the State whose church it is gets more and more difficult so I think a discussion needs to be had and this is probably the time to have it," he said.

Last week, it emerged that the Government and Buckingham Palace had had discussions on reforming the 1701 Act of Settlement, which bars the monarch from being or marrying a Catholic.

Lord Falconer said of the issue, “We could easily, I think, make it possible for the monarch to be a Roman Catholic.” He suggested that making the Archbishop of Canterbury the Church’s Supreme Governor instead of the monarch would solve the problem.

He added, “Britain is incredibly good at getting round those sorts of problems … It’s plainly an idea whose time has come.

“We need to move forward on this. I think you will find that the timidity that currently grips this issue will suddenly get replaced by somebody, whether it is the Archbishop of Canterbury of the day or the monarch of the day or the prime minister of the day, who will suddenly say this is what I propose and it will happen.”