MPs are to debate whether God Save the Queen should be replaced by a new English national anthem at sporting events.
God Save the Queen, the UK’s national anthem, is usually used to represent English teams and athletes during competitions.
But Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins thinks England deserves its own anthem, with the Bill he proposed due to be debated in Parliament.
Alternatives to God Save the Queen, which some have described as a “dirge”, include the song Jerusalem, which was unofficially adopted as the English national anthem for England during the 2014 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Jerusalem, with words by William Blake and music by Hubert Parry, is a firm favourite among members. Gareth Young, a member of Anthem for England, told the BBC: “It’s a beautiful song and it actually mentions and is about England, unlike its competitors.
“People wrongly think it’s a hymn and object to the fact it references a Middle Eastern city, but Jerusalem was actually a metaphor for a better place.”
Several pressure groups are pushing for an anthem for England including England in my Heart and Anthem for England.
UK news in pictures
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12 January 2016Junior doctors and medical students demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London as part of a nationwide one day strike in a dispute with the government over new contracts
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11 January 2016David Bowie tribute at Ritzy cinema Brixton, London
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11 January 2016Mist surrounds Temple Island near Henley-on-Thames, Berkshire, as Britain is bracing itself for an icy blast over the coming week when temperatures will plummet below freezing to bring snow and widespread frosts
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10 January 2016Participants in the annual International ‘No Pants Subway Ride’ travel on a London underground train in London. Started in 2002 with only seven participants, the day is now marked in over 60 cities around the world. The idea behind ‘No Pants’ is that random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter, without wearing trousers. The participants wear all of the usual winter clothing on their top half such as hats, scarves and gloves and do not acknowledge each other’s similar state of undress
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9 January 2016Everton’s Spanish goalkeeper Joel Robles attempts to catch a cat during the FA Cup third-round football match between Everton and Dagenham Redbridge at Goodison Park in Liverpool
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8 January 2016The Flying Scotsman steam engine leaves East Lancashire Railway in Bury. One of the world’s most famous steam engines, “Flying Scotsman,” is set to return after a decade of restoration and over 80 years since it became the first locomotive to reach 100 miles an hour (160 kph). The venerable engine, which has toured both the United States and Australia since it was retired from service, made a series of short test runs on Friday, ahead of a programme of heritage journeys this year on Britain’s main lines
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7 January 2016David Bass riding Pulling Power (2L, green) on their way to winning The Haygain Hay Steamers Clean Healthy Forage Mares’ ‘National Hunt’ Maiden Hurdle Race at Towcester racecourse
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6 January 2016The Haxey Fool, Dale Smith, is smoked as he starts the Haxey Hood at Haxey Village in Doncaster. The origins of the ancient game of Haxey Hood goes back hundreds of years to the 14th century. Lady de Mowbray was out riding towards Westwoodside on the hill that separates it from the village of Haxey, when her silk riding hood was blown away by the wind, farm workers in the field rushed to help and chased the hood eventually it was caught by one of the men, but being too shy to hand it back to the lady, he gave it to one of the others to hand back to her. She thanked the farm worker who had returned the hood and said that he had acted like a Lord, whereas the worker who had actually caught the hood was a Fool. The act of chivalry and the resulting chase amused her so much she donated 13 acres of land on condition that the chase for the hood would be re-enacted each year
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5 January 2016Armelle Thomas, holds a photograph of her late husband Tommy Thomas, as campaigners against the building of a third Heathrow Airport runway plant black paper planes in Victoria Gardens next to Parliament in London. Tommy Thomas died 8 weeks after being informed that their house in Harmondsworth would be demolished if a third Heathrow Airport runway were to be built. 2000 planes were planted, the estimated number of planes that will fly each day if the new runway is built
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4 January 2016A London Zoo staff member with penguins at the London Zoo in London. The London Zoo undertakes its annual stocktaking which is carried out at the the start of each year
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3 January 2016A sculpture constructed of umbrellas is seen in the rain in a street in central London
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2 January 2016Norwich City Chairman Ed Balls (R) and chief executive David McNally (L) talk prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Norwich City and Southampton at Carrow Road in Norwich
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1 January 2016Fireworks explode around the London Eye during New Year’s celebrations in central London just after midnight
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31 December 2015Armed police officer patrol with Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) in the background ahead of the New Year’s Eve fireworks in London. Police said they would deploy more armed officers than usual on the streets of London for New Year’s Eve, as the terror threat level remains at “severe” meaning an attack is “highly likely”
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30 December 2015A dog is pictured on a flooded street in Dumfries, Scotland. Torrential rain and gale force winds battered northern Britain on Wednesday cutting power to thousands of homes and forcing some to evacuate flooded streets in the third major storm in a month.
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29 December 2015A resident cleans up after flood waters receded on Huntington Road in York
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28 December 2015A woman cleans the inside window of her wine bar, as the floodwaters rise from the rivers Foss and Ouse, after they burst their banks in York. Prime Minister David Cameron visited the flood-hit historic city of York on Monday as cities, towns and villages across northern England battled to get back on their feet following devastating storms. Around 500 properties were flooded in York, one of Britain’s top tourist attractions, on Sunday as two rivers burst their banks. Some residential streets became so inundated that cars were covered up to their roofs.
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28 December 2015A woman looks out of a flooded property in York City Centre
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27 December 2015Members of the emergency services paddle down Huntington Road past a submerged parked car after the adjacent River Foss burst it’s banks in York. The government was holding emergency talks Sunday as flooding in northern England forced hundreds of people to leave their homes, including in the historic tourist destination of York.
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27 December 2015A resident dressed as the character Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean film series stands outside his flooded house after the adjacent River Foss burst it’s banks in York. The Government was holding emergency talks Sunday as flooding in northern England forced hundreds of people to leave their homes, including in the historic tourist destination of York.
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26 December 2015Shoppers are reflected in a store window as they pass sales advertisements on Oxford Street in London
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25 December 2015Swimmers prepare to take part in the annual Christmas Day Peter Pan Cup handicap race in the Serpentine River, in Hyde Park, London,
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24 December 2015A butcher holds up cuts of meat to be sold during the annual Christmas Eve auction at Smithfield Market in central London
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23 December 2015Actresses rush backstage to get changed during a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk at Hackney Empire London. The popular pantomime play is showing at the venue until 3rd January 2016.
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23 December 2015People cross a bridge in St James’s Park in London. Large parts of Britain have enjoyed unseasonably warm weather today as forecasters have announced that they expect it to continue into next week
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22 December 2015People gather to take a selfie photograph as pagans and revelers gather at Stonehenge, hoping to see the sun rise, as they take part in a winter solstice ceremony at the ancient neolithic monument of Stonehenge near Amesbury, Wiltshire. Despite a forecast for rain, a large crowd gathered at the famous historic stone circle, a UNESCO listed ancient monument, to celebrate the sunrise closest to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The event is claimed to be more important in the pagan calendar than the summer solstice, because it marks the ‘re-birth’ of the Sun for the New Year.
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21 December 2015An employee sorts deliveries at Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant Mail Center in London. This week is expected to be the busiest of the year for Royal Mail as they deal with deliveries in the run up to Christmas.
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20 December 2015London buses pass under Christmas lights on Oxford Street in central London, on the final shopping Sunday before Christmas.
AFP
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19 December 2015A supporter wears a t-shirt featuring the face of Chelsea’s former Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho before the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge
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18 December 2015Josh Clewley harvests Brussels sprouts at Essington Fruit Farm in Wolverhampton for the Christmas market
Land of Hope and Glory, by Edward Elgar, is also among the numbers being suggested, having been used to represent England at national sporting events in the past. Following MPs’ initial vote on the matter, the Bill will go onto a second reading.
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