CHRISTIAN prayers were read at a Worcester City Council meeting after the mayor was annoyed by news the practice might be banned at County Hall.

The Mayor of Worcester, Coun Allah Ditta - a practising Muslim who normally has an Imam read from the Koran ahead of full council meetings - asked the Rev Stuart Currie, from St Stephen's Church, off Droitwich Road, to give prayers at last night's meeting as a reflection of his views on integration.

The move came because Coun Ditta was angry that county councillors were considering changing the traditional start of full council meetings for fear of offending members of other faiths.

Coun Dan Wicksteed, the county council's equality champion, said, last month, that the council should consider whether prayers could be interpreted as offensive and drafted ideas including allowing prayers to be taken in a side room, having clerics from different religions appear on a rota, allowing a moment of contemplation and banning all prayers.

His proposals also provoked fury, at the time, with Councillor Tom Wareing accusing a "cell" of councillors of running an "orchestrated campaign to undermine the Christian faith".

At last night's meeting Coun Ditta said it was "very offensive" to claim that non-Christians in the public gallery were discriminated against with the reading of prayers before full council.

"I didn't think it was offensive when I was sat on the other side of the table, when I wasn't mayor, and the Rev Stuart Currie came in for prayers," said Coun Ditta.

"If you are trying to encourage integration and then cause isolation how does that help?"