a group of Conservative MPs and peers has urged Dame Sarah Mullally to stop the Church from spending the money. They claim the funds can only legally be spent on churches and the payment of clergy wages. In a statement, the Church Commissioners said that arrangements for the fund were being "developed transparently - in line with charity law". Mullally, who currently serves as the Bishop of London, will take up her new role as the first-ever female Archbishop of Canterbury next month.

The Church of England's slavery links proposal was announced in January 2023 following the publication of a report into the Church's historical links to transatlantic slavery. The report, requested by the Church's financing arm - the Church Commissioners - found that a fund established by Queen Anne in 1704 to help poor Anglican clergy was used to finance "great evil". According to the report, the fund, known as Queen Anne's Bounty, invested in African chattel enslavement and took donations derived from it.

After the report's publication, the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said he was "deeply sorry" for the links and said action would be taken to address the Church's "shameful past". The Church Commissioners announced a new £100m fund, committed over a nine-year period, to be spent on "a programme of investment, research and engagement" in communities damaged by the enslavement of African people during the transatlantic slave trade. However, in their letter to Mullally, MPs and peers have urged the Church to focus on "strengthening parishes" rather than on pursuing what they describe as "high-profile and legally dubious vanity projects". (BBC)