It’s part of a national trend, but some have questioned its motives
10:37, 30 Aug 2025Updated 10:37, 30 Aug 2025
Union Jack and England flags appear on lampposts all along Victoria Avenue in Blackley(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
England flags and Union Jacks have been appearing on lampposts and roundabouts across Greater Manchester in recent weeks.
It’s a trend that has been spreading across the country. ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ has seen members of the public attach flags to street furniture, including lampposts at Piccadilly Gardens, or paint red crosses on roundabouts, including some in Sale and Oldham.
Councils are removing flags that cause ‘safety’ concerns. And in some cases ordinary people are removing the flags themselves.
The trend has sparked controversy with mayor Andy Burnham suggesting some of those involved might be ‘seeking confrontation’.
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Meanwhile, anti-fascism charity HOPE not hate has raised concerns about the motives behind the movement, revealing that one of the men claiming to be a co-founder of ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ is a long-time ally of the far-right figure Tommy Robinson.
So how did it all begin?
St George’s and Union Jack flags tied to lampposts around Weoley Castle(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
After the Lioness Euros campaign picked up in July, families showed their support by hanging out flags from windows or on poles outside their gardens. Streets in the Birmingham areas of Weoley Castle and Northfield had a mixture of the St George’s Cross and union jacks hanging from every lamppost along several of their streets. Then other areas in the city followed suit.
The vast majority of comments on the Weoley Castle Community Facebook page were supportive of the move. “We all like the flags. They brighten up the area and they’re not offensive in the slightest,” said one typical Facebook post.
But the activity has also stirred concern and suspicion amid claims those responsible are politically motivated and are seeking to stir up division between white British residents and other communities.
A group calling themselves the Weoley Warriors claimed responsibility, saying they were a “group of proud English men with a common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country of how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements”.
The prominence of the flags has posed a dilemma for Birmingham’s council, which has said it intends to remove ‘unauthorised attachments’ on lamp-posts as part of a ‘programme of works to improve street lighting’ in the city but they have stopped short, however, of coordinating a mass removal.
Flags were taken down by a number of local authorities elsewhere in the country too, including Tower Hamlets in east London where the local council was accused of removing the England flags at pace having previously allowed Palestine flags to fly in the borough.
Protests have been taking place outside asylum seeker hotels across the country this summer(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Meanwhile, some have linked the appearance of the English flags with the far-right as protests took place outside asylum seeker hotels this summer, including one in Tower Hamlets as well as several in Greater Manchester such as Cresta Court in Altrincham.
Tower Hamlets Council said that where flags are attached to council-owned infrastructure without permission, they may be removed.
In Greater Manchester, red crosses symbolising England’s flag were painted on three roundabouts in Trafford earlier this month.
They appeared on two neighbouring roundabouts at the junction of Firs Way and Manor Avenue in Sale alongside a third at the junction of Firs Road and Harboro Road. Trafford council said that these actions were putting ‘motorists at risk of serious injury’.
A town hall spokesperson said: “It is a legal requirement that roundabouts are a solid white colour, visible and have some skid resistance for safety reasons so we have to use a specialist paint.
“This means we will have to remove the red lines and will either have to jet wash them or do a more costly repainting job if that is not possible.”
St George’s flags painted on roundabouts in Sale(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
St George’s crosses have appeared on roundabouts elsewhere in Greater Manchester too, including one in Fitton Hill in Oldham.
Oldham council has warned against graffiti in the borough, arguing that spraying national flags on the road does not do them justice.
England flags and Union Jacks have also appeared on Victoria Avenue in Blackley where they hang from almost every lamppost.
On Thursday (August 28), more than a dozen Union flags appeared in Manchester city centre, attached to lampposts in Piccadilly Gardens. In response, Manchester council said that these flags would not be removed unless they present a safety concern.
However, some members of the public have taken it upon themselves to remove flags. On Wednesday (August 27), a confrontation between a man who had put flags up on a footbridge in south Manchester and a man who took them down was caught on camera.
Pablo O’Hana, who works as a political adviser, told the Manchester Evening News that the flags are ‘being used to cause division’.
Pablo removed a flag from a footbridge in south Manchester(Image: Pablo O’Hana)
A spokesperson for HOPE not hate said: “There is nothing wrong with raising the Union Jack or cross of St George. Despite what people claim on social media, it’s not illegal to be proud to be English or British! It’s also true that not everyone who has raised a flag is far right.
“But the fact that much of this wave of activism is being organised by well-known racists and extremists does raise questions about the motivations behind much of Operation Raise the Colours. “
Asked about the flags earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “I think the PM has always talked about his pride of being British, the patriotism he feels.
“I think he’s talked about that previously […] not least recently in relation to the Lionesses’ successful campaign in the Euros. Patriotism will always be an important thing to him.
“We put up English flags all around Downing Street every time the English football team – women’s and men’s – are out trying to win games for us.”