MPs are to be asked to briefly put aside matters such as the refugee crisis and the EU referendum to consider whether England sports fans should still sing God Save the Queen.

A bill, tabled by Labour MP Toby Perkins, which calls for England to have its own national anthem for international fixtures as the Welsh and Scottish do, is to be debated in the Commons on Friday.

The discussion could prove moot, however, following reports in the Times that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Football Association (FA) are against calls to scrap the singing of the UK national anthem at international games involving England teams.

Toby Perkins arranged for choir to sing Jerusalem and other alternative anthems. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Perkins has arranged for a choir to sing Jerusalem and other contending anthems on College Green near the Houses of Parliament.



Toby Perkins looking slightly nervous about his vocal pic.twitter.com/hIspauou3F — James Tapsfield (@JamesTapsfield) March 4, 2016

The MP for Chesterfield launched the campaign in January, when he was joined by a group of high-profile Labour politicians for an impromptu rendition of Jerusalem outside the Commons.

An e-petition, which has since gathered only 2,000 signatures, argues that it is “time for England to have its own national anthem, to enable us to establish our English identity and support our role in the United Kingdom”.



Just as the Welsh sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers), and the Scots sing Flower of Scotland, there should be an anthem for England, it adds.

The petition has fallen far short of the 100,000 signatures required to guarantee a cause is raised in parliament. But Perkins has submitted it as a private member’s bill, which is listed for a second reading on Friday.

An RFU insider told the Times: “There is no appetite to change the national anthem before England matches.”

Greg Dyke, who chairs the FA, told the newspaper that he did not believe England fans had strong feelings about a need for change.

Both the RFU and FA have links to the royal family; the Queen is patron of the RFU and Prince Harry is vice-patron, while Prince William is president of the FA.

David Cameron has previously said Jerusalem – which is set to a William Blake poem – would be his choice for an English national anthem.

The song has proved the most popular choice in recent polls, and was chosen to be played for English athletes competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi following a month-long public vote. Edward Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory often comes second in polls, and was used at the Commonwealth Games before 2010.

It was not the first time the issue has been heard in parliament. In April 2007 the Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland introduced an early day motion calling for English sporting associations to “adopt an appropriate song that English sportsmen and women, and the English public, would favour when competing as England”.

The Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski introduced an early day motion a year earlier calling for Jerusalem to be given official status as the national anthem of England.