A BID to remove the statutory requirement to have church representatives on council education committees has been launched at Holyrood.

John Finnie, the former SNP and now Independent MSP for the Highlands and Islands, is consulting on his proposals to make local government more accountable and transparent to the electorate.

The proposals would also ensure that all public meetings of the council are webcast. The consultation will run for at least 12 weeks and asks members of the public and organisations for their views.

Mr Finnie said: "In 21st Century Scotland, when the single largest group of people identify as having 'no religion', obliging councils to appoint unelected religious representatives to their education committees is an archaic arrangement."

Gary McLelland, chairman of the Edinburgh Secular Society, backed Mr Finnie's proposals. He said: "The Bill affords an opportunity for the mainstream churches and our elected politicians to reflect and act on the changing demographics within Scotland."

But David Robertson, Free Church minister in Dundee and director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, said he would question whether the current political parties were more representative than the churches, who have memberships running into hundreds of thousands of people.

"If politicians wish to claim the moral high ground of democracy, then instead of listening to the interests of the tiny minority of militant secularists who are seeking to take over our education system, let them ask the people," he said.