A retired Church of England bishop has claimed that lesbians raising children without a father figure will lead to “delinquency”.

Michael Nazir-Ali – who sat in the House of Lords as the Bishop of Rochester until 2009 – previously chaired the ethics committee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which deals with fertility issues.

He told the Mail of lesbians raising children together: “This is social experimentation. It’s one thing for a child not to have a mother or father through tragedy but it is another to plan children to come into the world without a father.

“Research tells us that children relate to their fathers differently than to their mothers, and this is important in developing a sense of their own identity.

“In particular, boys need closeness to their fathers for a sense of security and developing their own identity, including appropriate patterns of masculine behaviour.

“The results of ‘father-hunger’ can be seen in [lack of] educational achievement and on our streets, where it contributes to delinquency.”

Dr Nazir-Ali said previously: “The Bible’s teaching shows that marriage is between a man and a woman. That is the way to express our sexual nature.

“We welcome homosexuals, we don’t want to exclude people, but we want them to repent and be changed.”

The Mail on Sunday was mocked for a front page headline claiming the NHS is funding a sperm bank “for lesbians”.

The sperm bank is open to people who want to conceive, and will be available to straight couples, same-sex couples and single women.