BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCILS £2.6 MILLION FLAG-REMOVAL OPERATION

REFORM: COUNCIL’S £2.6 MILLION FLAG-REMOVAL OPERATION WOULD DIVERT RESOURCES FROM POTHOLES AND HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE

Reform UK Birmingham has condemned Birmingham City Council’s decision to pursue a citywide flag-removal operation after the Council’s own High Court evidence said the cost could reach around £2.6 million and would divert resources away from essential services, highway maintenance and pothole repairs.

Reform says genuine safety risks, violence, threats and intimidation should be dealt with firmly, but argues that individual wrongdoing should not be used to justify an expensive citywide campaign against patriotic residents who simply want to display the Union Flag and St George’s Cross with pride.

Birmingham City Council remains under Government intervention as it continues to recover from years of serious financial failure. The Council has around £3.6 billion of borrowing and is owed more than £360 million that it believes it may never recover.

The Council is now seeking a High Court injunction as part of its response to flags attached to street furniture across Birmingham.

Its own evidence estimates the cost of removing flags across the city at around £2.6 million. The same evidence acknowledges that the scale and cost of the operation would divert resources away from essential services, highway maintenance and pothole repairs.

The £2.6 million estimate relates to removals and does not represent the full wider cost of the High Court proceedings, legal work, officer time, monitoring and any subsequent enforcement.

Cllr Rajbir Singh, Reform UK Birmingham Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, said:

“Birmingham is still recovering from catastrophic financial failure. Residents are already paying the price through huge Council Tax rises and cuts to the services they rely on.

“At a time when Birmingham is cutting services and trying to repair its finances, committing millions of pounds to a citywide flag-removal operation is an extraordinary choice of priority.

“Our national flag is not a problem to be solved. The Union Flag and St George’s Cross are symbols of our country and people should be able to display them with pride.

“Where there is a genuine safety issue, deal with it. Where somebody commits violence, makes threats or intimidates others, deal firmly with that individual. But don’t use individual wrongdoing as an excuse to treat the peaceful display of our national flag as something Birmingham needs to eradicate.

“The Council’s own Director of Highways says the cost of removing flags would divert money away from essential services, highway maintenance and pothole repairs. At a time like this, Birmingham taxpayers are entitled to ask how spending millions taking flags down can possibly be the right priority.”

Cllr Jex Parkin, Leader of Reform UK Birmingham, said:

“Anyone who drives around Birmingham can see the state of our roads. Residents are dealing with potholes every day.

“They will rightly ask why, when our roads are crying out for investment, Birmingham City Council is so determined to waste money taking down our national flag.”

Reform UK Birmingham says Birmingham should be proud to see its national flag flying across the city and that the Council should concentrate its resources on fixing basic services and dealing firmly with specific safety risks or individual wrongdoing rather than treating the flag itself as the problem.