A test case bid to outlaw prayers before local council meetings has been won by the National Secular Society and an atheist Devon councillor in the UK.

The secular society challenged the practice of Bideford town council of having religious prayers on meeting agendas.

Yesterday Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting in London, ruled: “The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a council is not lawful under section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, and there is no statutory power permitting the practice to continue.”

The legal challenge was launched in July 2010 after the society was contacted by Clive Bone – a non-believer who was then a Bideford councillor. Mr Bone later left the council because of its “refusal to adjust” its prayer policy. Society lawyers argued that council members who were not religious were being “indirectly discriminated against”, in breach of human rights laws. But the case was not won on human rights grounds, but on a point of statutory construction of local government legislation.

Simon Calvert, of the Christian Institute, rejected the NSS claims and said the High Court “has taken sides with those whose only goal is to undermine our Christian heritage” adding, “Prayers have been a part of council meetings for centuries, and many people... see them as a positive part of our national life.”