UK MPs to debate new national anthem
Print Edition
Will England bid goodbye to “God Save the Queen”?
British MPs agreed yesterday to consider replacing the royalist song, which is the national anthem of the United Kingdom — made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — and is played at the Olympics and other events where the UK fields a single team.
At contests where the four areas compete separately, such as the rugby and soccer World Cups, England and Northern Ireland generally use “God Save the Queen,” but Scotland and Wales have their own official songs — “Flower of Scotland” and “Land of My Fathers.”
Labour Party lawmaker Toby Perkins said adopting an English anthem would “re-establish the idea that the United Kingdom is a union of four separate nations with their own identities.”
He told the House of Commons that “Jerusalem,” often regarded as England’s unofficial anthem, was the obvious choice. The song, whose words are by 18th-century poet William Blake, vows to transform an England of “dark satanic mills” into a “green and pleasant land.”
Opposing the motion, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said an English anthem would divide Britain by encouraging “individual nationalisms.”
“What greater pleasure can there be for a true-born Englishman or true-born Englishwoman than to listen to our own national anthem,” he said.
Under Perkins’ proposal, “God Save the Queen” would continue to be sung at British team events. Northern Ireland could either stick with the status quo or choose its own anthem.
MPs agreed to hold a House of Commons debate in March on the bill, which calls on the government to consult the public on a new anthem.
Perkins said his own canvassing had produced suggestions including “Land Of Hope And Glory,” “There'll Always Be An England” — and even “Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now” by The Smiths.
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