A FORMER Bradford police inspector hopes to unite the nation in song to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.

Kash Singh, who now heads up the organisation One Britain One Nation, is urging people up and down the country to gather in their city and town squares on June 10 - the Queen's official birthday - to sing the National Anthem and Happy Birthday.

He said: "At 11 o'clock on June 10, it's a message to the whole nation: stop what you are doing, get into your squares in your towns and cities and join in the celebrations being created by local councils, to sing the first verse of the National Anthem, three cheers for Her Majesty and the traditional Happy Birthday song dedicated to Her Majesty.

"On top of that, we want the nation to hold celebrations as they see appropriate to show our respect and our gratitude to her."

One Britain One Nation is calling on people of all faiths, ages, races and backgrounds to come together to mark the monarch's landmark birthday this year and at the same time celebrate what it means to be British.

The national campaign officially kicked off in Bradford, with an event at City Hall yesterday.

MPs, judges, faith leaders and Lord Mayors from across Yorkshire were among the dignitaries who gathered to wave Union flags and throw their support behind the idea.

Now Mr Singh will be travelling up and down the country to spread the word.

At the event, Lord Patel of Bradford gave a speech about the importance of the Queen's role as head of the Commonwealth.

He said the Commonwealth was about the "values we all share, particularly values of tolerance, kindness, pride and respect".

The Right Reverend Dr Toby Howarth, Bishop of Bradford, said the Queen's birthday offered people a simple way to show they were proud to be British.

He said: "There is a huge amount, as we know, of loyalty and a very warm feeling towards the Queen and real pride in her and pride in our nation.

"But sometimes the opportunity to get that across feels political, or feels like we are making a statement in another direction, and people say they are not quite sure they can do that.

"What we have here is a very simple opportunity for people from all sorts of backgrounds to do that."