Row over Lord's Prayer proposal for Reform-led council

Councillors at Kent County Council are to vote on whether to recite the Lord's Prayer and sing the national anthem at its meetings.

A committee at the Reform UK-led council voted to put the rule changes up for a decision by the full council at a later date.

Reform councillor Richard Palmer, who chairs the authority, said: "We are a Christian nation."

Green Party group leader Mark Hood said: "We should operate in this council in a wholly secular manner to respect the followers of all religions and none."

Hood told the committee that constituents would regard the move as "absolutely bonkers".

Liberal Democrats group leader Antony Hook said that he thought it was "really inappropriate to, in this workplace, take on a religious practice".

Opposition councillors have also argued that the changes would take up time during full council meetings, following earlier discussions about saving time.

Restore Britain's Maxine Fothergill said: "I do not see a problem with this and if members do not agree with it, they are welcome to sit it out and come in when the clergy has finished."

The council's monitoring officer had advised that the council could not legally include the prayer in its livestream of meetings.

The motion was passed with an amendment allowing the prayer to be broadcast, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Hood also objected to the proposal to introduce the singing of the national anthem, adding: "If people want to sing songs, then by all means sing the songs elsewhere.

"If this is going to eat into the time allocated to the democratic processes being undertaken in this room, then it's absolutely unacceptable."

Reform councillor Garry Sturley said that the national anthem was "just a standard patriotic tradition" and proposed that it too could be livestreamed.

Reform's Palmer added: "There is nothing wrong with being loyal to the crown, nothing wrong with being loyal to this country."

That motion also passed and will be put to a full council meeting.

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