Britain must stop forcing children to attend Christian school assemblies because it undermines their human rights, a United Nations committee has said in a controversial new report.

The authors called on ministers to repeal a law demanding a daily act of Christian worship at schools because it may contradict a child’s “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”.

The report was produced by an 18-person group of “independent experts” of "high moral character" including representatives from Bahrain, Russia and Egypt.

Critics dubbed the demand “ludicrous” and said the government should responded by “respectfully” putting the report “in the bin”.

It was just one of 150 recommendations about where Britain could be contravening the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child.