MPs to vote on an anthem for England

LONDON: An anthem that was played for English athletes competing at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – Jerusalem, the musical setting of William Blake’s poem by Sir Hubert Parry, is the front runner to become England’s very own anthem.
Indian origin PIO Sunder Katwala is leading a campaign to have a designated anthem for England.
MPs will vote on it in the House of Commons on Wednesday night.
UK’s national anthem is God Save the Queen which is performed in all cultural and sporting events involving England.
PM David Cameron is also pitching for Jerusalem to become England’s anthem.
In a recent letter defending his campaign and supported by stalwarts from British society, Katwala wrote “When British athletes won gold for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, God Save the Queen played to celebrate. However, when it is England who take to the sporting field to play rugby or football, they should be heralded by an English anthem for an English team, just as Flower of Scotland and Land of My Fathers are sung as Scottish and Welsh anthems”.
Katwala who is director of British Future adds “An English anthem would show symbolically that pride in our national identities is no barrier to being proud to be British too. An English anthem for the talented, diverse teams that represent us on the sporting field would help modern patriotic pride to defeat prejudice”.
Cameron recently said Jerusalem would be his choice.