Bill would allow public vote on England national anthem

  • 14/01/2016
Bill would allow public vote on England national anthem

Move over New Zealand flag, England is looking to get its own national anthem.

MPs have voted to introduce a Bill to Parliament debating whether England should be given its own national anthem, The Guardian reports.

Labour MP Toby Perkins proposed that public consultation should be launched to decide which song would suit best.

Politicians agreed the Bill should be given its second reading in March.

Scotland and Wales have their own anthems and 'God Save the Queen' is sung at many sporting events when an English team is playing.

However, England doesn't have its own anthem.

In proposing the consultation, Mr Perkins was quick to say he wasn't a "republican, nor an atheist nor an English nationalist".

"Members should detect no hostility in me towards God, her majesty the Queen, to 'God Save the Queen' or to the United Kingdom.

"Indeed it is precisely out of respect to preserving many of these things that I believe the time has come to consider the question of an English national anthem," he said.

He believes "the time has come" for a decision to be made and for Parliament to "catch up with public opinion".

While the proposition for a national anthem is young, there's already a frontrunner.

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously said 'Jerusalem' would be his choice, and the song has also proved most popular in recent polls.

The musical setting of a William Blake poem, the song was played for English athletes in the 2012 Commonwealth Games in Delhi after a month-long public vote.

'Land of Hope and Glory' often comes second in polls and has been used in previous Commonwealth Games.

3 News