The East Anglian Daily Times is campaigning to oust St George and get former East Anglian king St Edmund reinstated as the patron saint of England.

The paper has teamed up with BBC Radio Suffolk for the We’re Backing Saint Edmund fight and has launched a petition for readers to sign which will be taken to Downing Street on November 20 – St Edmunds Day.

The paper is also calling for the date to be made a Bank Holiday, and has put together a poster which readers can download from its website and display in their windows.

EADT editor Terry Hunt said: “I believe it’s absolutely right that St Edmund should be our patron saint once more.

“His credentials are far stronger than St George and, of course, he is an East Anglian icon.

“His name has become synonomous with one of our most important and beautiful towns, Bury St Edmunds, and all round he has a far stronger case than St George.”

BBC Radio Suffolk presenter Mark Murphy, who came up with the idea for the campaign, said St George had not captured the public’s imagination in the way that St Patrick had the Irish.

He said: “I don’t have anything against St George, in fact I still have some cross of St George bunting left over from the World Cup hanging up in my back garden, but let’s be honest he hasn’t really caught on has he?

“The Irish have taken St Patrick to their hearts and have a massive party on his special day and no matter how hard we try St George seems to leave many people cold.”

St Edmund ruled the Anglo Saxon realm of East Anglia between 855AD and 869AD. He was England’s patron saint until the position was usurped by St George in about 1100AD.

Historians believe St Edmund met his end near his namesake town of Bury St Edmunds, and the EADT believes that – given his historic status – he should once again be made the nation’s patron saint.