While Londoners scurried from building to building seeking shade on another baking hot day this week, one man paused in the shadow of the Royal Courts of Justice. The leader of Oxfordshire county council, Tim Bearder, was not only happy in the shade of the court’s gothic towers. He had just won a landmark legal victory.
On the face of it, the case was an argument about local council permissions. But such is the febrile nature of British politics, the proceedings took on a whole new importance – one which strikes to the heart of raging debate in England over its most recognisable icon: the national flag. The court, one of the most important in England and Wales, had decided that hanging the English flag from lamp-posts without the council’s permission should not be allowed.
“Oxfordshire council leader Tim Bearder wins landmark injunction against unauthorized England flags on lampposts.”
Activists who have been hanging the flag of St George along roadsides in what has been a growing display of nationalist sentiment were dismayed, accusing politicians such as Bearder of “not liking the flag of their country”. Bearder, a public servant and proud Englishman, was delighted. “We’ve secured the first ever injunction [of its kind] in the country and this will serve as a blueprint for other councils wishing to stop this irresponsible behaviour,” he said.
Tensions have been growing between the Raise the Colours group and the council since the former began its “nationwide campaign to cover Britain in flags” last summer. The phenomenon began in Birmingham, with flags of St George and union jacks appearing on lamp-posts, roads and roundabouts, before spreading across the West Midlands and beyond – from Worcester to Greater Manchester and Newcastle in the north of England.
Raise The Colours states on its website that it is a grassroots movement that has “grown into a campaign to cover Britain in symbols of unity and patriotism”. Others have accused the group of spreading anti-immigration rhetoric and vigilantism – claims it has previously denied.
Oxfordshire council became aware of the flags in the county in August last year, and initially decided against taking action in the hope the movement would eventually “blow over”, Bearder said. “We didn’t want to give them that fuel so we just took a very light touch approach.” As the campaign continued, however, that approach was no longer feasible and the council decided to take the flags down. “They [were] doing it in very dangerous situations on busy roundabouts with just a ladder,” he said. “As a highways authority, we have a legal responsibility to maintain a safe highways network.”
In its claim to the high court, the council said contractors removing flags had been met “with hostility and obstructed”. The injunction now sets a precedent – but the debate over a nation’s symbol, and who gets to display it, is far from over.