The Secular Medical Forum has condemned Ed Miliband's recent support for the ritual genital cutting of children and called on the labour leader to rethink his stance on the issue.

NHS Sheffield's Clinical Commissioning Group has proposed to make families who want their sons to undergo non-medical male circumcision pay for the procedure. Each operation costs about £1,000.

The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution condemning female genital mutilation, the first time the practice has been denounced at such a high level.

Two Swiss hospitals have suspended the performance of infant circumcision, after the ruling of a German court in Cologne which said that religious circumcision was likely to be illegal because it infringed the rights of the child.

The court decision in Germany that held that circumcision, carried out for religious — as opposed to medical — reasons, is potentially harmful has been fiercely opposed by religious interests, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel.