Council debates tradition of prayer in meetings

The possibility of removing prayers and the national anthem from Havering Council meetings has drawn criticism from Christian groups.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) found councillors discussed altering the constitution in February, with a view to shortening meetings.

Full council meetings often last longer than two hours and have been known to overrun to accommodate debates. Both ceremonies take around five minutes in total.

A constitutional working group is to further consider and research the idea but the council has said it has "no plans for the near future" on removing them.

Full council meetings, which every councillor must attend, begin with a brief prayer delivered by the mayor's elected chaplain. They end with a rendition of the national anthem, God Save the King.

Under the proposed timetable, prayers would instead be held before the meeting in a separate room and the national anthem would cease being played.

Any changes to the constitution would have to be approved at a full council meeting.

Conservative councillor David Taylor, the church engagement lead for the Conservative Christian Fellowship, said he was "shocked" to hear about the proposals.

He said: "To remove these important traditions in the name of saving three or four minutes is a trashing of tradition. It won't improve anything about the way meetings work and won't improve anything for residents."

Prayer is also an "important tradition" in a "nation with a strong Christian heritage," the councillor added.

Havering Council says it would research other councils' timetables before considering the proposals.

In the neighbouring borough of Redbridge, full council meetings begin with a prayer but the national anthem is not played at the end.

Newham Council does not begin its full council meetings with a prayer nor does it play the national anthem.

A spokesperson for Havering Council told the LDRS: "We will carry out research into the way other London councils cover prayers and the national anthem before considering the discussion at the constitution working group – if there is a recommendation to change the current format, this would need to be approved by the governance committee and full council."

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