The Lords Spiritual are the twenty-six bishops of the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The archbishop of Canterbury, archbishop of York, and the bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester are always Lords Spiritual. The remaining twenty-one Lords Spiritual are typically appointed based on length of service alone, however the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015, which is in force until 2030, gives female bishops priority in appointments. When a vacancy arises, if a woman is eligible to become a Lord Spiritual then she must be appointed, and if more than one woman is eligible then the appointment is decided on length of service.

The Lords Spiritual are distinct from the Lords Temporal, their secular counterparts who make up the majority of the House of Lords. When a Lord Spiritual retires as a bishop they may be given a life peerage, which allows them to continue to sit in the Lords as a Lord Temporal. Because only the Church of England is an established church in any country of the United Kingdom, representatives of other churches cannot be appointed Lords Spiritual; this includes the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland and the Church of Scotland.

There are 42 dioceses in the Church of England, each led by a diocesan bishop. The archbishop of Canterbury and the archbishop of York, as Primate of All England and Primate of England, respectively, have oversight over their corresponding ecclesiastical provinces. The occupants of the five "great sees" – Canterbury, York, London, Durham and Winchester – are always Lords Spiritual.

Of the remaining 37 bishops, the 21 most senior usually sit in the House of Lords. Following the first ordinations of female bishops in the Church of England, the normal operation of this rule was suspended by the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015, which provides that until 2030 every woman appointed as a diocesan bishop will automatically become a Lord Spiritual when a vacancy next arises, regardless of seniority, so as to increase the representation of female bishops in the House. Otherwise, seniority is determined by total length of service as an English diocesan bishop (that is to say, it is not lost by translation to another see). The bishop of Sodor and Man and the bishop of Gibraltar in Europe do not sit in the House of Lords regardless of seniority, as their dioceses lie outside both England and the United Kingdom.

Theoretically, the power to elect archbishops and bishops is vested in the diocesan cathedral's college of canons. Practically, however, the choice of the archbishop or bishop is made prior to the election. The prime minister chooses from among a set of nominees proposed by the Crown Nominations Commission, and the sovereign then instructs the college of canons to elect the nominated individual as a bishop or archbishop.

One of the Lords Spiritual is appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury to be the convenor of the bench; he or she coordinates the work of the bishops in the House. David Walker, bishop of Manchester, was appointed the current convenor effective 1 June 2025.

Even during the early years of the peerage, the position of bishops was unclear. During the reign of King Richard II, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared, "of right and by the custom of the realm of England it belongeth to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being as well as others his suffragans, brethren and fellow Bishops, Abbots and Priors and other prelates whatsoever,—to be present in person in all the King's Parliaments whatsoever as Peers of the Realm". The claim was neither agreed nor disagreed to, however, by Parliament.