Wednesday 13 January 2016 11:52 am

Instead of God Save the Queen, of course England should have its own national anthem such as Jerusalem or Land of Hope and Glory

Today a 10-minute rule bill in the House of Commons will see MPs debate whether England should have its own official national anthem.

While typically these rule bills seldom end up in the statute books as law, they offer worthwhile debates on often niche subjects. This in turn sparks media interest, allowing the wider population a chance to share their own views and take the debate home to discuss with friends and family.

It’s always a good thing when we have a national discussion about patriotism. The national anthem unites us together as one community – in this case those living in or identifying themselves as English. It helps lifts the national mood and gets people talking about our country positively.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love our national anthem "God Save the Queen", but when our neighbours in Wales and Scotland sing out their own national songs at sporting games and drench themselves in their respective flags, I do get a little bit envious that we don’t have something uniquely English.

For Britain as a whole our national anthem is perfect. It gives us as a set of lyrics that celebrate Britain and our fantastic monarch who unites us. It’s therefore a suitable anthem to play during official state visits and at the Olympic Games, for example, where we operate as one. However, when it comes to England and the anthem we sing on the football or rugby pitch, the current anthem doesn’t sound as powerful as it could.

We need something more, dare I say it, jazzy. Something which screams: "We’re England, come and get us baby!"

Whilst Hubert Parry’s "Jerusalem" has been dubbed the favourite replacement by many including Prime Minister David Cameron, I’ve got to say that as beautiful as it is, it doesn’t do it for me. I’m much more of a "Land of Hope and Glory" supporter. We need something that rivals the anthems of the world, sends the Kiwi Haka dancers running in fear and one that, like the current, can be sung in one short and sweet verse.

Whatever your views on our national anthem, get stuck in to this debate and challenge any boring naysayers that don’t think England deserves the airtime.

As English, it’s fair to admit we do generally get a bit embarrassed and worried about talking about how great our country is. But we really shouldn’t. Devolution in Britain has benefited everybody but England, yet we should be able to enjoy it as much as any other UK citizen.

It has given us, as England, a unique identity and we should take advantage of this. Hopefully as English votes for English laws progresses and becomes entrenched in our system, it’ll help allow discussions on England like the one today to flow nicely.