Lawmakers bruit ‘Jerusalem’ as official English anthem

London may be loath to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but lawmakers there decided Wednesday to consider making a song named for the city the new anthem for England.

At sporting events, teams representing England currently sing “God Save the Queen,” which is the anthem for the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland.

But British parliament members agreed on Wednesday to consider switching the anthem for “Jerusalem,” a hymn derived from a poem by William Blake published in 1808.

British MP Toby Perkins from the opposition Labour party proposed the English National Anthem Bill, which was adopted by the House of Commons unopposed and will be debated again in March.

Perkins said that England should join others in the UK, namely Wales and Scotland, in having a distinct sporting anthem when its teams play.

“It has often seemed incongruous to me that when England has played against other home nations on the football or rugby field that, while the Welsh or Scots sing an anthem that reflects their nation’s identity, England should sing about Britain,” Perkins said in the House of Commons.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke against Perkins’s proposal, citing “deep and serious reasons.”

“What greater pleasure can there be for a true-born English man or true-born English woman to listen to our own national anthem, a national anthem for our whole country, for our whole United Kingdom of which England is but a part but an important part?” he said.

Rees-Mogg added that individual national anthems in the UK were a “disuniting factor in our country.”

Despite unanimous support in its first reading, the bill is unlikely to become law without support from the Conservative government.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokeswoman said that “he is happy for there to be a debate.”

“What matters the most, with an anthem, is that you sing it with pride,” she added.

“The most important thing, [Cameron] thinks, is that people get behind their anthems.”

“Jerusalem,” with words taken from Blake’s poem “And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time” and music written by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916, speaks about Jesus coming to earth and establishing a “New Jerusalem” in England over the “dark Satanic mills” of the Industrial Revolution.

The proposal to turn the song into England’s sports anthem has been raised in the past. In 2012, Cameron publicly backed calls for an English anthem and specifically expressed support for the song.

Other potential options could include “Land of Hope and Glory” and “There’ll Always be an England.”

Welsh sports teams sing the Welsh-language hymn “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” (“Land of My Fathers”), while Scottish teams sing “Flower of Scotland.”