Fury as UK council that branded Brits flying flags 'far right' tear down 78

A London council has spaarked fury after tearing down a combined 78 St George's and Union Jack flags in a two-day spree. Tower Hamlets Council used metal poles to remove England flags from the borough during the height of the "Operation Raise the Colours" movement. The east London authority removed 43 English and British flags on August 18, before taking down an additional 35 two days later, MailOnline reports.

This month, councillors passed a Labour-led motion which labelled those flying the national flag as "far-right" extremists. They cautioned that the borough was being targeted by "far-right agitators attempting to stir up division". In response to 22 public complaints, the council quickly moved to remove St George's flags in August, stating it was "part of routine maintenance".

Video footage also surfaced of council workers using long metal poles to take them down from lamp-posts before storing them away, sparking outrage.

The removal of St George's flags was slammed as "outrageous" by Susan Hall, the leader of the Conservative group in the London Assembly.

Ms Hall, a former candidate for London mayor, questioned: 'They've allowed Palestinian flags to fly there - why on earth are they taking England flags down? If they accept other flags going up, why can't they allow Britsh ones?"

A council worker, who was tasked with removing the flags in August, revealed he had to stop due to the level of abuse he and his colleague received from irate locals.

Tyrone, a cleaner for the council, found himself surrounded by agitated residents urging him to stop as he pulled the flags down. One resident shouted: "This is a f***ing joke ... We're going put them back up anyway."

Tyrone told the Mail: "I was sent here by my managers to take these flags down. I don't know the significance of these flags but I've been taking them down and getting abuse by people who are telling me to leave it.

"They ask me, 'What has Britain become?' and say 'Don't take them down' and 'The mayor's a w****r'. And they get annoyed because they say the Palestinian flags were left up for weeks and months but the English flags have been removed straight away.

"But I'm just doing my job and I'm not going to let them hinder me from what I am doing. But my colleague is going [because of the abuse] and I need someone to watch my back while I'm doing this."

He added that they were forced to return the following day at around 6.30am to remove the rest when there weren't so many people around.

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets council said: "We have a policy of removing flags when they appear on council infrastructure and we apply this policy consistently to all flags.

"That is why we have removed approximately 1,055 flags between May 2024 and August 2025. Of these, 977 were Palestinian Flags and 78 were Union Jack or St George's flags.

"Last year, a significant number of Palestinian flags were put up which is why they were removed. Over the past two-months, St George's and Union flags were put up, which is why they were removed.

"We understand people are passionate about flags, and they can fly flags on private property. We proudly fly many flags on our Town Hall to celebrate key national days."