“Sod the British Government” and fly the flag of St George England’s council support St Michael’ Church

“Sod the British Government” and fly the flag of St George England’s council support St Michael’ Church Everyone in England should be “Flying the flag on St George’s Day? And all public and government building should be flying England’s national at all times? But councils told Sorry...you don’t have enough poles

Once more this British Labour government faced demands last night to axe ‘petty’ regulations which will discourage hundreds of local councils from flying the English Cross of St George this week.

St Michael’s press office was told; the row follows Whitehall advice to local authorities telling them to display the patriotic flag on St George’s Day this week but only if their town hall has more than one flagpole.

But if the building has just a single pole, the Union Flag is supposed to be flown.” Well if we are meant to be politically correct? The union jack shouldn’t be flying on any building without the national flag of the country along side it? In this case the St Georges cross, being this is England and this is the English national flag (St Georges Cross), It’s not the union jack that’s the British flag, which is meant to be for England Scotland Wales, the Scots the Welsh nor the English want it, it seems only those that think themselves British do?

On St Andrew’s Day, the Scottish Saltire can be flown alone on a single flagpole in Scotland and Welsh government buildings with only one pole can fly the Welsh Dragon on St David’s Day but not here in England.

English council leader’s claims millions are being denied the chance to see the Cross of St George on Thursday because of ‘red tape’ well I suggest the councils ignores this Government and fly England’s flag and be prod to do so and support the people?

The advice flies in the face of comments by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears, who last week backed St Michael’s for a St George’s Day campaign by advising schools and public buildings to fly the Cross of St George.

She also urged civil servants to wear a red rose, England’s national flower.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who last month joined forces with this St Michael’s to demand that St George’s Day becomes a day of national celebration, said: ‘We should be proud to celebrate the great things that England has brought to the world.

‘Councils mustn’t feel constrained about flying the Cross of St George on our saint’s day and City Hall will be hoisting the English flag on April 23.’

Following St Michael’s campaign, councils have revolted against the advice from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Leading the charge was Cumbria County Council, which flies the cross of St George from its headquarters in Carlisle as a matter of course.

A council spokesman said: ‘We do have two flagpoles, but the St George’s Cross is our default flag, not the Union Flag.’

Essex County Council will also show its support by proudly displaying the St George Cross outside its headquarters in Chelmsford. ‘We have four flagpoles but would be flying this whether we had a spare flagpole or not,’ said a spokeswoman.

Derbyshire also stepped up to the plate. A spokesman for its county council said: ‘We only have one flagpole and we fly the Union Flag on Royal occasions and the flag of St George on April 23.’

Both East Hampshire and Hart district councils are also defying the one-flag rule by flying the Cross of St George on its own.

Buckinghamshire County Council will celebrate on Thursday by flying the Union Flag and the flag of St George.

Both flags will also fly alongside each other at the county hall in Chester, and at Devon and Hertfordshire county councils.

However, the refuseniks include Central Bedfordshire Council, which will fly just the Union Flag because it has only one flagpole. A spokeswoman added: ‘We have no celebrations planned by Central Bedfordshire for St George’s Day.’ (St Michael’s) But we wouldn’t expect anything less from this council racist council towards the English.

Councillors at Test Valley in Hampshire are furious after being told they cannot fly the Cross of St George because the council has only one flagpole and must abide by the Government’s rules.

Council leader Ian Carr said: ‘These rules are very confusing and annoying. It makes a mockery of Hazel Blears encouraging everyone to back St George’s Day when we can’t put up our flag. They need to sort it out and simplify the process rather than confuse the issue with petty red tape.’

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, chairman of the all-party group on St George’s Day, said: ‘It is time that we celebrated pride in our country. It is disgraceful that the DCMS are showing no clear leadership in celebrating our national day.’

Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt added: ‘The Government still doesn’t understand that to create a coherent national identity we need to show respect for Englishness just as we do for Scottish ness, Welsh-ness and Irish-ness and giving St Michael’s our full support on giving England back its national identity to be as proud as the Scots and the Walsh are about theirs.

‘They should stop being so ridiculously politically correct – and instead of sending out documents restricting what people can do, should encourage people to celebrate England’s national day.’

Sayeeda Warsi, the Tory spokesman for community cohesion, added that the Cross of St George should be flown by members of all religions to ‘reclaim the saint from the hands of the British National Party’ AS St Michael’s dose.

Baroness Warsi – who was the first Islamic woman to be selected by the Tories to fight a Parliamentary seat – hopes to allay worries that honouring St George might upset Muslims because of his historic association with the medieval Crusades.

Asked whether she was worried about her plan being opposed by Muslim extremists, the Peer said: ‘There are extremists in all our communities, including the BNP, but St George should represent the vast majority of moderate people, English people which are not the British National Party and there is no place here in England for extremist who ever they are.