SUPERIORITY COMPLEX?
Westminster insists Union flag must take ‘superior’ position over Welsh dragon on government buildings... as Plaid MP says flag order shows ‘desperate insecurity’
THE UK Government has said the Union Jack must always be flown in a “superior position” to the Welsh flag when displayed on UK Government buildings in Wales.
Guidance released last week, which said all UK government buildings in Wales should display the flag all year round, has been further clarified. Two flags can be flown on a single pole, for example the Welsh dragon flag and Union flag.
In a written statement, Oliver Dowden, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, said: “This will allow organisations to highlight local and national identities, for example by flying a Middlesex county flag alongside the Union flag in Middlesex, or the Saltire alongside the Union flag in Scotland. Where organisations have two flag poles, they can fly the Union flag alongside another flag.
“The Union Flag must always be flown in the superior position.”
He added that, following the UK’s departure from the EU, express consent must be sought before an
EU flag is displayed on a public building in England.
The move follows a row over BBC Breakfast presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt, accused by some of being “antipatriotic” for a joke about the size of the Union flag in Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick’s office.
Dwyfor Meirionnydd Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts said: “Sticking flags on every street corner ... only reveals their desperate insecurity about the future of the UK.”