A source has claimed some of Sir Keir Starmer’s new Labour MPs want to scrap the tradition of morning prayers.
A Commons modernisation committee, set up after Labour’s landslide victory, has been asked by some of the Prime Minister’s new MPs to scrap the daily worship.
In a tradition dating back to the 16th Century, MPs begin each day with private prayers which the public and the press are not permitted to witness.
The same happens in the House of Lords, however attendance for both MPs and peers is voluntary.
The tradition of praying in Parliament dates back to 1558
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A source told the Mail on Sunday: “[The new Labour MPs] want to scrap them. They find it archaic and definitely see it as old practice.”
There was backlash to the claims from veteran Tory MP who accused the new MPs of a “lack of respect” for Parliament’s Christian traditions.
The South Holland and The Deepings MP said: “There’s a certain sort of arrogance associated with people who arrive somewhere and want to change everything before they really understand it.
“But there are also some people who, either because of ignorance or hostility, don’t understand the point about the need for a period of contemplative time or the Christian tradition on which our country’s system of ethics and laws are founded.”
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However, one Labour MP who was elected on July 4 last year reminded Hayes that the party’s general election landslide represented a generational shift in the make-up of the Commons and backed the right of new MPs to modernise the institution, but admitted it was not top of the their priority list.
They told Mail on Sunday: “I don’t think getting rid of daily prayers is top of people’s priorities, but new MPs come with new ideas. It’s a different demographic to the past.”
Former MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said the prayers were a “reminder of our history and status as a Christian nation.”
He said: “This is not the time to abandon God, whose help is most particularly needed when we have such an awful government.”
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey is a practicing Christian
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As part of the tradition, each Commons sitting starts with private prayers read by the Speaker’s Chaplain.
It is tradition that both Government and Opposition MPs turn to the wall during the short service.
However, there was controversy in September last year when it was suggested new Liberal Democrat MPs stayed seated during the session, staring at and “fiddling with” their phones.
Hayes accused the party’s MPs of being “impolite and disrespectful.”
A party spokesperson hit back, slamming Hayes for “petty political point-scoring” adding: “It is sad to see this great Parliamentary tradition dragged through the mud by a Conservative MP.
“The Lib Dems are home to many practising Christian MPs, not least our party leader [Sir Ed Davey].”
