Opinion: Reform’s Flag Motion is not a serious proposition - In-Common

By Sam Wise.

Reform UK’s Councillor for Coxford, Phillip Crook, will tomorrow table a motion calling for only the Union, St George’s and Southampton City flags to be flown at council buildings, and for the Union Flag to be flown/displayed at every council premises and council school.

Let’s call this what it is, Councillor Crook is grandstanding. He knows he doesn’t have the support to pass this motion, and as such, he knows he will not be held to account for its content. His intention appears to be to rile up his base against “lefties” (even the Conservative Party are sometimes characterised this way) and their supposed hatred of the country. Let’s see what questions should be asked, and whether we can consider Councillor Crook a serious politician.

Firstly, from the outside, many have interpreted the intention of the motion to be to prevent the flying of the Pride flag. This flag is a sign to people that it is safe to be something other than cis gendered and heterosexual, and these are identities that many right wing voters would like not to feel safe.

What cllr Crook may not have considered is that his motion would prevent the flying of many other flags, a particularly notable one would be the Armed Forces Day flag, which many of his voters would doubtless like to continue to see flown, perhaps not least Councillor Crook himself, who is an armed forces veteran.

The reality is that not many people actively pay attention to the flags flown at the Civic Centre, unless they are told to.

Another interesting consideration is the lack of detail provided for the second part of the proposal, to fly the Union flag at every council building. We might start by asking cllr Crook how many council buildings there are?

The lowest estimate I can come up with is 367 including the around 120 schools. Of these, around 40% already fly the flag, leaving around 220 where flag flying facilities would be required. On the higher end, it is possible to arrive at a total over over 1,100 council buildings, and it will be clear to most readers why we need to know whether his intention is to bedeck 367 buildings or over 1000 including schools.

Another question we might ask cllr Crook is how he intends for these flags to be flown? We have to assume that he’s not proposing that Ryan Bridge go out with a bag of polyester flags from Temu and some zip ties, so it would be useful to get a sense of the intended approach, and the likely cost.

On the lower end of the cost scale, the Reform controlled Nottinghamshire Council put up 164 Union Flag banners on lamp posts, with these each costing around £475, including the cost of the flags, brackets, traffic management, cherry picker hire, and staff costs. If he intends 220 such installations, the cost would be in the region of £100,000.

Should the intent be to cover every council building, the cost jumps to around half a million pounds.

It’s entirely possible, however, that he intends the installation of proper flag poles at each premises. The most conservative estimate I can find for the type of permanent flag pole that we see at the Civic Centre is £2,500. This means that at the most conservative, the cost of this project for 220 premises would be over £500,000. On these estimates, if his intention is to cover all council buildings in this way, the total would be closer to £2,260,000.

One suspects that the real answer to these questions is that cllr Crook does not intend for Southampton City Council to erect any flagpoles or install any flags.

He is safe in the knowledge that this motion cannot pass.

I would encourage you, however, to consider what this would really mean.

On the doorstep, politicians including cllr Crook hear about problems with housing, with potholes and highway maintenance, with fly tipping and refuse collection. It is a common complaint that council tax keeps rising, and the services do not improve.

This, as cllr Crook is well aware, is due to a cut in Southampton City Council’s grant from the Central Government, from £300 million in 2010, to £100 million today. That is why parking is extortionately expensive and services don’t work. Not migrants, not rainbow flags, but Conservative Party cuts, made as part of a program to ensure that the maximum possible amount of money is transferred to the very richest in our society.

In making this proposal, Philip Crook is implying that his voters are not intelligent enough to ask how much it would cost, and where the money would come from.

He is wrong, you are all more than intelligent enough.

This is not a serious proposal, because, I would argue, cllr Crook is not a serious politician and Reform UK Ltd are not a serious political party.

If you live in Coxford and meet cllr Crook, maybe you can ask him some of these questions. Where would the budget for something that seemingly costs between £100,000 and £2 ¼ million come from? From the highways budget? The housing budget? Perhaps he intends to cut funding for children’s mental health? Or maybe he simply intends to raise your council tax further.

These are the questions, Councillor Crook, what are your answers?

Cllr Crook was contacted to respond to the questions raised by the article. We asked him: “With regard to the second part of the motion – “That the Union Flag is to be flown/ displayed (flag staff) at every council owned property/ building and Council run schools (halls)” – please could you confirm how many buildings not currently flying a Union Jack would be impacted by the motion? In addition, if passed, how would the flags be displayed – would each require a flag pole or would the intention of the motion be met by, for example, pinning a flag to an internal noticeboard?“Also, please could you supply estimated costings of risk assessment, installation and maintenance should the motion be passed.”
He responded: “The motion has been amended to remove the last point about schools. It’s been changed due to practical reason such as lease agreements. However, when Reform UK gains power in the future it will pursue the installation of flags in our schools etc. If it was included and voted in it would be for the Labour/Lib Dem council to action.”

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