Anti-circumcision groups buoyed by proposals to ban the religious ritual for boys in Iceland are planning protests to put pressure on medical bodies to condemn the practice in Britain.

Senior rabbis and imams have said that any such move would contravene religious freedoms and are gearing up for a battle.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is undertaking a periodic review of its guidelines on “non-therapeutic” or “ritual” circumcision, routinely carried out on newborn and young boys at the request of Jewish and Muslim parents. It will be completed later this year.

According to the most recent estimates, from 2000, about 4 per cent of boys born in the UK are circumcised by the age of 15. The World Health Organisation said studies showed that there