A grave crime has been committed across Britain; an act of egregious theft. The culprits? Fascist thugs who intimidate those who don’t look or sound like them. The crime? Stealing the flag that unites four great nations and their people, the flag that belongs to everyone who calls Britain home.
From using the British flag as a weapon of intimidation to protesting outside hotels, vandalising roundabouts, attacking police officers, and marching through London to voice their opposition to basic decency, Britain’s far-right has become more emboldened by the rise of Reform UK and their normalisation of hatred. With extensive coverage by the BBC, Nigel Farage’s platform for hatred has pushed Britain’s political landscape further to the right, dominating issues such as asylum, immigration, climate scepticism, and opposing what they call “woke politics.”
The Liberal Democrats have long championed causes such as equality, social justice, combating climate change, and adopting a more compassionate and understanding approach to asylum and immigration. Yet, one area we must be more vocal about – an issue we began addressing at the 2025 Conference – is reclaiming the British flag from those who seek to divide our country, demonise those fleeing war, strife, and starvation, and turn Britain into a vassal state for figures like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
There’s a misconception that supporting the flag is merely performative, serving only to play into the far-right’s hands with symbolism alone. But I disagree. The British flag cannot be allowed to remain a symbol of hate.
It stood proudly in victory over the Nazis. It flew as part of a broader European effort to establish peace across the continent. It is a symbol of Britain’s long parliamentary history, from the Magna Carta to universal suffrage, the rule of law, liberal democracy, and NHS internationalism. Doctors and nurses from around the world have made Britain their home, saving lives and enriching our social fabric.
For the far-right to use that same flag, symbolising all that is great about Britain, is a stark display of their ignorance. To even consider not reclaiming it is a betrayal both of our liberal values and of every individual victimised by the British far-right.
It is our flag too. By reclaiming it, we affirm a Britain that stands for liberty, compassion and the enduring promise of democracy.
* Jack Meredith is a member of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and an active campaigner and canvasser with Swansea and Gower Liberal Democrats. His writing focuses on democratic reform, social justice, trade unionism, economic democracy, and the institutional foundations of effective government. He has written for the Fabians, Lib Dem Voice, Liberator, Nation Cymru, Bylines Cymru, and Centre Think Tank.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
A perpetual pirouette of prevarication?
Michael Meadowcroft: A Liberal of Intellectual Rigour and Uncommon Integrity
Debt-ridden graduates claim they are seen as cash cows
Why non-fiction books need their indexes
Changes in status: Local Elections wrap up
David Raw
Jenny Barnes
Tom Bailey
Gill Travers
Alison Howarth
9 Comments
I agree completely.
Unlike some American houses, my house does not have a flagpole! However since 2009 I have worn a Union Jack lapel pin at all times. This is something each of us can do as individuals, without seeking anyone else’s consent or approval.
See my website page linked below.
https://www.mohammedamin.com/Community_issues/Union-Jack-lapel-pin.html
Similar issues arising in Ireland this year, where various far-right actors have attempted to copy the UK flag protests, primarily around Dublin. That said, practically every political party, from Fine Gael to the centre-left Social Democrats, swiftly took the wind out of their sails by declaring their own support for the tricolour, and particularly mentioning its use in citizenship ceremonies as a unifying symbol, even without metaphorically wrapping themselves in the banner.
Though a Liberal Democrat, I have good friends in Scotland who voted for Scottish independence and told me a couple of years ago that they often felt the Union flag was only really flown in Scotland by Unionist trying to remind them that they lost the referendum. The Union flag is certainly not a unifying flag in Scotland.
Thank you Brenda. I don’t think the uk flag is a unifying source anywhere. It isn’t a british flag because it diplays northern ireland which isn’t in britain and it isn’t a uk flag because it doesn’t display Wales in either. In addition, england has a flag but are just a colony of the uk. Jack, Mohammed and Paul, I don’t need a flag to love people.
Spot on article.
Very happy to see the flags of Wales, Scotland and N.I. flying too. Al the home nations flying their flags would indeed be a very welcome sight and a set back for the flag abusers.
There has been conflicting views on what Tim Farron did and said at the Rally at Conference (Someone else will have to provide the link if needed).
A very good pic of him with the words has been distributed and I decided to try and put it onto a local “politics” group that is generally shades of left and ultra right having a go at each other, but I know there are quite a few lurkers in there who are genuinely listening to what is being said.
https://scontent.flba3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/554414289_10163849530514406_5613669847518864905_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=BF79OKA99mgQ7kNvwFx4ssk&_nc_oc=AdmBagZFKLh-HonSKCdsV3L8LNmUNMgAqIy03n6GEbD_whEwo4zKUfo-FdIxhmZlag4&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.flba3-2.fna&_nc_gid=Md6apOJq_FgklnBhs8Dnmw&oh=00_AfZHLGjYKjbGkQmcvXPsBl1r4x_6GmzFPZmLQUXSg4rQVw&oe=68DD70BE
I am surprised that apart from 2 very silly right wing posts, one saying “we ought to hear from what Lib Dems have to say” there are quite a few “likes” coming through.
@Suzanne Fletcher – the full text of the speech is here:
https://www.libdems.org.uk/press/release/farron-declares-our-flag-belongs-to-one-people-the-british-people-as-liberal-democrats-open-conference
I was there and felt conflicted about the flag waving. What I did find objectionable was Tim’s statement of “Rooted in values of hard work, generosity, freedom, kindness, community – seeking, imperfectly, to embody the *Christian* values of justice, of all people being equal, of no one being above or beneath the law. Of mercy and of goodness”.
I am an atheist and Christianity does not own those values. They are found amongst people of all religions and none, and to single out one religion implies superiority.
The Union Jack does not belong to the far-right. They can go and find their own one. They can leave the St. George’s Cross alone as well.
I dislike all forms of nationalism and find flags divisive. However, that leaves nationalists and xenophobes etc to claim the flags as their own and ensure that they ARE toxic and divisive. As they always have done: this isn’t new.
I suspect the summer flag protests were a reaction to Palestinian flags going up here, and something that for the most part will fizzle out as most protest movements do, when the paint wears off or it’s raining too hard to bother going out to cause trouble.
The underlying causes for the protests won’t go away, though, and are more important to address than bits of material.