Sturgeon hauls down Union flag

Saltire to fly alone on government buildings for royal occasions under new guidance

THE Union flag is to be “eradicated” from Scottish Government buildings after Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP administration ordered that it only be flown once a year.

The flag traditionally flies on dozens of public buildings on royal birthdays and anniversaries and on Remembrance Sunday, but this will now happen only on the latter.

The flag was hoisted on 15 occasions last year, but in future the Scottish Saltire will fly alone for most of them.

The change means the Union flag will be displayed less often on official buildings than the rainbow Gay Pride flag, which is scheduled to fly four times for a range of LGBT events.

Westminster MPS said the guidance issued by the First Minister’s civil servants was “outrageous” and accused the SNP of “small mindedness” and a “tawdry attempt to sow more division”.

The updated guidance states that the Union flag should no longer be flown beside the Saltire for 14 royal anniversaries, including the birthdays of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

It applies to buildings operated by the Scottish Government and its executive agencies, with courts and councils free to follow suit. It brings them into line with the practice in recent years at the Scottish Government headquarters at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh.

The Royal Banner of Scotland, the Lion Rampant, is used instead by the Scottish Government for royal anniversaries, and this will continue. The Scottish Government confirmed its guidance had been changed, but said there would be no reduction in the Union flag being flown. A spokesman later clarified that this referred specifically to St Andrew’s House, where the flag’s use had already been abandoned.

The move will be seen as the latest attempt by Ms Sturgeon to stir up antiunion sentiment after losing the 2014 independence referendum. Jacob Rees-mogg, the Tory MP, said: “This decision smacks of small mindedness and is an affront to the majority of Scots who voted to remain within the UK.”

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said the SNP’S decision was “outrageous” and added: “It is insulting to Scottish people to pretend that somehow Scotland is not within the Uk...it is a tawdry attempt to sow more division – when will the SNP learn that this is not what the vast majority of the Scottish people want?”

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: “The SNP clearly thinks they won the Scottish referendum and therefore can remove the Union flag when they should be removing the EU flag.”

Murdo Fraser, a senior Scottish Tory MSP, said: “Nicola Sturgeon is always keen to stress that her civic nationalism is nothing to do with flags and banners. Yet here we have her trying to eradicate the Union flag ... pushing [the SNP’S] separatist agenda by stealth.”

The rules do not apply to the Holyrood parliament, the operations of which are overseen by a cross-party group, but must be followed by government’s executive agencies. These

include Historic Environment Scotland which oversees 33 of the country’s oldest buildings.

A spokesman for the agency confirmed it followed Scottish Government protocol, with only Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Fort George near Inverness being allowed to fly the Union flag “on an ongoing basis” thanks to their British Army presence.

Other non-executive agencies, such as the Scottish Court Service, choose to follow the protocols and Scotland’s 32 local authorities have an option to do so.

The guidance states the Saltire alone should be flown every day and any requests to fly other flags “must be cleared with the First Minister through the Protocol and Honours Team”.

Exceptions are listed in a schedule, the old 2017 version of which specified that the Saltire and Union flag be flown on Royal anniversaries at buildings other than St Andrew’s House. Buildings with only one flagpole would lower the Saltire and raise the Union flag “for that day only”.

Among dates affected are both the Queen’s actual birthday in April and her official birthday in June, the Duke of Edinburgh’s birthday, the birthdays of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, known as the Earl and Countess of Strathearn in Scotland, and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.

A Scottish Government spokesman said its “guidance was recently updated to see the Lion Rampant flown from St Andrew’s House to mark Royal birthdays and anniversaries”.

He added that the guidance will see no reduction in the number of days that the Union flag will be flown within the Scottish Government.

♦ Leading figures within the DUP have called for a 25-mile bridge to connect Northern Ireland with Scotland, just days after Boris Johnson suggested that one should be built linking Britain to France.

The estimated cost of the project, which would see a connection built between Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway, and Larne in Co Antrim, could stretch to £20billion.

Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP MP, and Simon Hamilton, a former minister for the party, have called for the link.