Operation Raise the Colours

An online campaign called Operation Raise the Colours was founded in August 2025, calling for the public display of the Union Jack and the flags of the four nations of the United Kingdom. The campaign has involved activists tying up flags on to lampposts and street furniture, One of a number of people who claims to have founded the movement is Andrew Currien, Currien has thanked Britain First for donating flags to the campaign. A number of groups associated with the campaign have emerged across the country. In Birmingham, a group called the Weoley Warriors said they were responsible for raising flags in Weoley Castle, Northfield, Bartley Green and other nearby areas. Another group, Raise the Colours, installed flags in south Birmingham and north Worcestershire. Both the Weoley Warriors and Raise the Colours also claim to be responsible for starting the national movement. Another allied group called Flag Force UK said they were responsible for raising flags across York in Yorkshire, and has also set up a live map of flags in the region. In Worcestershire, the Wythall Flaggers launched a campaign to raise flags around Wythall. In Greater Manchester a group called Churchill's Lions, with connections to the leadership of Britain First, said they were responsible for the majority of the flags. An investigation by a journalist at Manchester Mill found this group included co-leader of Britain First Ashlea Simon and a man who was convicted of being part of a five-person illegal immigration operation and sentenced to 20 months in prison after being stopped at the border with four migrants in his van in 2016. Only a few weeks earlier, the Saint George's Cross had been widely flown in cities and towns across England as a show of support for the England women's national football team in the UEFA Women's Euro 2025. In late November 2025, a man fell from a ladder while putting up flags on lampposts in South Bristol and died in hospital in early December. == Spread to Scotland and Wales ==

By September 2025, the movement had spread to Scotland and Wales, with the Red Dragon, Saltire and Lion Rampant, the flag of Wales and the flag and royal banner of Scotland, being raised there in a similar fashion alongside the Union Jack. In Scotland, occurrences were located in areas such as Falkirk, Maryhill and Tollcross in Glasgow, as well as Peterhead, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen. Parts of North Lanarkshire were also affected. In Glasgow, the flags were raised by a group called the Tartan Team, which are part of the Operation Raise the Colours movement. The Daily Record reported that one man organising it had made racist posts on his social media, replying to a video of an alleged fight between asylum seekers in Spain with the comment "gas them all" and also shared content claiming "the answer for America lies… in Germany with a man named Adolf". The man initially claimed mistaken identity but when pressed by a journalist, responded "Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I understand that Hitler went nuts at the end. No wonder, the drugs do that to most people. But at the start he had good intentions. Maybe they slipped a bit but he had good intentions for his country". In Wales, Welsh flags and Union Jacks appeared in Anglesey, Carmarthenshire, Conwy and Denbighshire. There were also incidents of the English St George's Cross appearing in Pembrokeshire, Llandudno and Cwmbran to the bemusement and protests of local residents. == Links with the far-right ==

Public Organisations, journalists and political figures have questioned the motives of the Raise the Colours campaign after it transpired that several far-right activists and organisations, including Britain First and senior far-right activist Tommy Robinson, had supported and promoted the campaign. Guardian writer Esther Addley has written that the campaign is a "an organised and well funded movement that, while certainly galvanising support among many individuals, has been driven and encouraged by figures with links to the far right". Anti-racist organisation Stand Up to Racism expressed its opposition to the campaign and organised counter-protests against Raise the Colours campaigners putting up flags. Anti-racist group Hope not Hate have said that some of the campaign's organising had been implemented by far-right activists. Anthropologist Dominic Bryan, who has researched the use of flags in Northern Ireland for more than 20 years, has commented on the phenomenon in Great Britain that: "We've heard predictable claims that the flags are just a display of pride in a British or English identity. This is an easy claim to make as it clearly is, in part, to do with nationalistic pride. The point is that they are being hung in particular places, by particular groups of people and in a particular way that clearly links them to the ongoing debates and hostility to migration". The campaign has prompted debate around the meaning of Britain's national flags, patriotism and the potential links of these flags to the far-right and racist movements. Right-wing activists have used the campaign as an opportunity to "reclaim" the flag from the Scottish National Party and the Scottish independence movement, which the Saltire has long been associated with. BBC News asked ethnic minorities in Glasgow and other towns in Scotland about their views on the Saltire with a mixed response, with some stating that the flag-raising campaign made them feel uncomfortable and fearful of racial discrimination while others said they were proud and supportive of the flag. In response to concerns that the Saltire was being co-opted by the far-right, First Minister John Swinney said in September 2025 that the Saltire must be a "flag of welcome" and that he would fight to ensure the Saltire would remain a "an inclusive flag, which is there to draw all of us together in Scotland as an essential part of our national identity". Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon called for people to "calm down a little bit about flags" and raised concerns that the spread of the Scottish Saltire was more about anti-immigration sentiment than national pride. ==Legality==

Section 132(2) of the Highways Act 1980 states it is an offence to affix any items to structures on the public highway without permission from the relevant highways authority. == Council, police and residents' responses ==

Several local councils, including Birmingham City Council, City of York Council and Tower Hamlets London Borough Council among others, have taken down the flags, citing safety concerns and a lack of permission to fly these on council property. Birmingham City Council subsequently stopped removing flags, noting that these removals "have unfortunately been met with hostility and abuse and we must consider workers' safety". Writing in the Daily Mail in August 2025, the Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch expressed the view that it was "shameful" for local councils to remove the flags. York Central MP Rachael Maskell reported that workers removing flags had been assaulted and that a death threat had appeared on the city walls. Council workers subsequently wore masks for protection, as a result of the "serious organised harassment and intimidation" they faced. In Brighton and Hove, council contractors had to abandon the removal of flags after they faced abuse. Hertfordshire County Council also stated that highways contractors experienced abuse and threatening behaviour when they attempted to take flags down from lamp posts, and that the workers would have to operate with police protection. The council in Knowsley reported that contractors removing flags had faced "completely unacceptable" threats, stating that the "strongest penalties" would be imposed on the offenders. Trafford Council paused the removal of flags after a staff member was abused in the street and threatened on social media. In Sheffield, the council's highways contractor, Amey plc, reported that its staff were taking down flags in teams rather than alone, for safety reasons. The manager of the street cleaning contract told a council meeting that "It was quite shocking how we were treated by the public. It was very threatening and very aggressive". Shropshire Council said that flags would stay up except for safety or maintenance reasons. Kent County Council (KCC) told Harrietsham parish council that flags would have to be removed in the village before traditional Christmas lights could be installed on the lampposts. The leader of Warwickshire County Council said that the local authority would be removing some flags in order to enable Christmas lights to be put up. The leaders of the Scottish National Party, Liberal Democrat, Labour, and Conservative groups on Aberdeen City Council issued a joint statement in early December, condemning threats made against council workers who had been removing flags from lampposts as they installed Christmas lights in late November 2025. In September 2025, Derby City Council stated that it would begin removing flags. In January 2026, it was reported that 950 had been removed. In January 2026, Bristol City Council agreed to start taking down flags "gradually" after discussing a petition calling for their removal. The council had previously allowed most flags to remain, with its leader Tony Dyer stating in summer 2025 that they would only be removed where there were safety concerns, arguing that there was a need to "reclaim our flag" from those who had "hijacked" it and "reclaim the fact the flag represents all of us in England". Dyer stated that police or security staff would accompany workers removing flags where necessary. Another councillor cited both distress experienced by residents where flags had been put up and the deteriorating condition of the flags, which he stated were making the city appear "unsightly". In April 2026, a ward councillor in Darlington said that residents had contacted her to report that the integrity of lampposts outside their houses had been compromised by people climbing them to put up flags, and that the posts were now "waving" in the wind, leading to safety concerns. A spokesperson for Darlington Borough Council said that "Climbing or attaching items to lamp posts can be dangerous, as they aren’t designed to take the extra weight". In some areas local residents have grouped together to remove the flags themselves. In Faversham a group called Faversham Against Racism formed and flyered for a planned "community clean up" to "de-flag" the town. In York a group called the International Flagging Committee raised money through donations to buy flags from across the world, aiming to create "a cityscape that looks like we are hosting the next Olympics". In Caerphilly, South Wales, a road bridge in Pontllanfraith was decorated with flags from countries from across the world. In Harborne, also in Birmingham, flags were removed, to which local councillor Jayne Francis responded: "Thanks to those responsible for removing. 99% of people who contacted me last week were uncomfortable with their presence (and were not asked if they wanted them)". In neighbouring Bearwood, a local activist took flags down after other residents told him that their presence made them feel unwelcome. Later, he was the subject of racist messages on X and was called a "foreigner", with one person messaging calling for him to be "detained and deported". In Didsbury a political advisor was taking down flags he passed whilst cycling to the gym after which he was confronted by a man at a nearby pub who said he was responsible for putting them up, later he told the Manchester Evening News, "I am sick of patriotism being stolen and used as a message of deliberate intimidation." A man taking down a flag in Norwich said he was surrounded by a group who had arrived by car and attacked him, smashing his head into the pavement. The police subsequently told him that they could not investigate as no CCTV evidence was available. On 4 February 2026, the group Raise the Colours put flags up in the Birmingham suburb of Moseley for the first time. According to the Birmingham Mail, the local councillor "tried to inform them that they are committing an offence under S132 Highways Act 1980 but they continued flagging". On 6 February, "Moseley councillors said on Facebook that the council would be removing the flags in 'urgent' action, supported by West Midlands Police". On 7 February, several hundred people took part in a 'Moseley Is For Everyone' event and took down the flags. In early February 2026, Labour-led Rotherham Council announced that it would take down "scraggy" flags because they were becoming "disrespectful to a proud nation", but that it would be offering grants of £500 to community groups or parish councils to support the installation of flagpoles to fly a union or England flag from. The council's leaders said that they wanted flags to be a "symbol of unity" rather than "surrender[ing] them to extremist or far-right groups". The council was subsequently accused of appeasing the far right. A spokesperson for Stand Up To Racism Rotherham, whose mosque was vandalised with a St George's flag following a riot in which demonstrators attempted to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers in 2024, expressed concern that the grants would "give the far right confidence". On 19 February 2026, a group called Raise the Flags Shrewsbury Plus put flags up in the town of Church Stretton, a town that is known to fly many flags all year round and is known locally as "the town of flags". The group said the flags were put up because they had received a donation specifically to do so in that area. The mayor subsequently reported that he had "received phone calls from a number of women who had gone out to see what the commotion was, and they were threatened and abused by the people putting up the flags". The person who put up the flags said that nobody was threatened and the police who investigated the event said that no crimes had been committed. The mayor also said that the town's large population of military veterans felt that the flags disrespected their service, stating "They're saying: 'Look at the way that those flags are being tied up with bits of string and cable ties, just left uncropped, and it's disgusting that you have that sort of disrespect'." Some of the flags have since been taken down by residents. In Stourbridge in March 2026, a public artist got permission from Dudley Council to fly 60 flags designed by students from a local college from lampposts on the town's ring road. The project, Hearts of Stourbridge, which was funded by the Arts Council England, celebrates "the identity, creativity and voices of Stourbridge's young people". According to the BBC, "Part of the mission is to combat negativity some had associated with the mass organisation of flying national flags without authorisation across town and cities in recent months", with the artist viewing it as "a response rather than a counter protest". On 24 March 2026, a group including Ryan Bridge from Raise the Colours attached flags to lampposts on Abingdon Road in Oxford. According to the Oxford Clarion, "The videos posted by Raise the Colours show non-stop animosity between the flag team and local residents, pedestrians and cyclists". The Oxford Mail reported that Bridge said during his livestream of the action: "Oxford’s mental, it’s full of absolute lunatics who hate that flag, and hate the flag of their country". A local woman who questioned the group about why they were illegally raising flags said "There’s a level of impunity there that is shocking. I’ve never experienced anything like it." The police subsequently opened an investigation into an incident which "allegedly involved a cherry picker blockading access in Abingdon Road on Tuesday evening, March 24 and residents being unhappy with the presence of those putting flags up". Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds stated: “If people want to erect the England flag outside their own home that of course is their right. However that is not what has happened here, where it appears people who do not live in the neighbourhood were involved, who imposed themselves on the residents of Abingdon Road and disrupted traffic in the rush hour in the process." The following week, the police announced that they had arrested an unnamed 44-year-old man from Bromsgrove "on suspicion of causing racially and religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress". The man was subsequently named by the press as Ryan Bridge. Bridge was released on police bail. He posted a video on Facebook following his release from custody, in which he said that his bail conditions including not visiting Oxfordshire. In April 2026, Shropshire Council announced that it would remove flags that had been flown from lampposts without authorisation, citing safety concerns after recent storms had left many of the flags loose or torn. The council said that it would seek the recover the removal costs from those who had put the flags up. It also stated that it was going to develop a funding bid for a "positive alternative" to the unauthorised flags, similar to the Stourbridge initiative. The leader of Hertsmere borough council, Jeremy Newmark, who is Jewish, called elements of Operation Raise the Colours 'an attempt by a bunch of criminals, extremists and nonces to hijack our national flag'. In response, on 21 September 2025, members of White Vanguard put up Union flags outside a property in Borehamwood, Essex that they falsely believed belonged to Newmark. The day after, White Vanguard described the council leader as a 'traitor' and 'Zionist Jew'. Costs to councils Local councils choosing to remove flags and repaint roundabouts have incurred costs. A freedom of information request sent to 383 local councils revealed that £61,770 had been spent by 36 local authorities. Total countrywide cost could be higher, as the data shows 583 incidents of flag removals across 276 areas but just 36 councils recorded a cost to the work, suggesting many will have absorbed the costs into their budgets. The request showed that Yorkshire councils had spent more than £30,000 removing flags. North Somerset Council’s cabinet member for Highways told a council meeting in September that repainting road markings and taking down flags had to date cost the council £6,000, enough money to have filled 200 potholes. A Kent councillor cited more than £11,000 had been spent to remove flags in Medway. Nottinghamshire County Council, led by Reform UK, has spent £75,000 on Union flags to be put up across the county. Initially this will be 164 flags installed on roads running from Worksop to Ruddington. Opposition parties have criticised the move, saying the money could have been spent on other council services. == Vandalism ==

, Hertfordshire In Wales, the flag of England was painted on a mini-roundabout in Llandudno, and in Henllys and Cwmbran local people turned out to scrub graffiti from signs and bus stops. War memorials in Bodmin in Cornwall and Kilburn in Derbyshire had the England flag painted on them, as well as the Portsmouth Guildhall. Toilets on Ilfracombe seafront were marked with red graffiti in a Saint George's Cross style. Roads in Leicestershire were painted with "offensive graffiti". A 33-year-old man was arrested in August 2025 after vandalism of shops in Basildon. In November 2025, a zebra crossing in Audley, Staffordshire was spray painted with St George's crosses for a second time, having previously been painted in August. A council cabinet member "said it would have to be removed at the expense of the taxpayer, when time and resources allowed". On 4 October a mosque in Peacehaven was set alight by masked arsonists. Speaking to BBC News about the attack, the Brighton and Hove branch of Stand Up to Racism said it had occurred within the context of Raise The Colours and other vandalism locally, "for a number of weeks now, racist and fascist groups... have been whipping up an atmosphere of hatred and intimidation against black and Asian people across the South Sussex coast with flags, stickers and racist graffiti". Local businesses in Stirchley, Birmingham, have reported experiencing intimidation from Raise the Colours. Two businesses whose owners and customers had opposed flags being raised nearby subsequently had their premises vandalised with flour and eggs. Raise the Colours posted on X about a third small business that objected to the flags, with their post being shared by Tommy Robinson and the business subsequently targeted by hundreds of negative reviews on Google. == Response ==

In August 2025, several political figures and groups, including Kemi Badenoch's Conservative Party, Nigel Farage's Reform UK and Keir Starmer's Labour Party, welcomed and defended the flying of flags amid the campaign. According to vexillologist Malcom Farrow, "the reason some associate the flag with far right groups is because Britain has never been a nation that has flown flags often and so 'nutter extremists' have been able to hijack them as their own symbols". He later said to The Guardian that the St George's flag "represents our diverse country" and that he would not tolerate people being "intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin". In the context of suggestions that he was planning a leadership challenge to Starmer, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting was reported in February 2026 as stating at a fundraising event for MPs Neil Coyle and Rosie Wrighting, "We knew it [Operation Raise the Colours] wasn’t about national pride and patriotism. It was about saying that that flag belongs to people who look like us, and not people whose skin is different to mine and Neil’s and Rosie’s". According to the Sunday Times, Streeting "called for Labour to make a more 'progressive' case and was critical of flags being hung from lamp-posts". The "anti-fascist officer" at Stand up to Racism stated in August 2025 said: "We are concerned that the discussion around the English flag and patriotism is giving cover for racism driven by the far right, and – shamefully – by politicians of all shades" and subsequently commented that it "was never about flags, it’s about giving confidence to racists and fascists to target refugees and migrants.” The Wythall Flaggers said: "This is not racist never has been never will be" and stated that they "have members of the community of all ethnicities and religions stopping by and praising what we are doing so please don't call this racist". In February 2026, seven Church of England bishops, including the Bishop of Kirkstall Arun Arora, the Bishop of Leicester Martyn Snow and the Bishop of Birmingham Michael Volland, issued a statement calling for the England flag to be a "symbol of unity" and criticising those "seeking to sow division and misunderstanding" by using it a symbol of anti-migrant sentiment. The campaign has been compared to the sectarianism of Northern Ireland, where different, hostile groups paint murals and raise flags to mark their territory. == Public opinion ==

According to a YouGov opinion poll conducted between 3 and 16 October 2025, "Both white and ethnic minority adults tend to see this summer’s lamppost flag raisings as primarily about spreading an anti-migrant or anti-ethnic minority message, rather than a display of patriotism". The results also showed that "Ethnic minority adults tend to say they would be uncomfortable if large numbers of England flags were raised in their local area in such a manner". 50% of 3,248 adults surveyed by YouGov thought that those attaching England flags to lampposts were doing so mostly as a way of expressing anti-ethnic minority or anti-migrant sentiment, 25% thought they were doing so mostly as an expression of national pride, and 25% thought both motivations were equal. Amongst ethnic minority adults, the figures were 55%, 15% and 20% respectively. When the question was asked about the Union Flag instead, 39% (and 41% of ethnic minority respondents) saw it as an expression of anti-ethnic minority or anti-migrant sentiment, 30% (26% of ethnic minority respondents) as an expression of national pride, and 24% (23% of ethnic minority respondents) saw it as both equally. 52% of ethnic minority and 36% of white adults responded that they saw the England flag as a racist symbol, but only 26% of ethnic minority and 19% of white adults thought the same of the Union Flag. == Relationship with the media ==

Ryan Bridge and Elliott Stanley have been interviewed several times on GB News. When a journalist from the Birmingham Dispatch challenged Bridge's claim that his trial in Spain had already happened, Bridge reportedly grew frustrated, saying “well, that’s nothing to do with what y–you either want to talk about flags or that, I mean this is mental. So you’re obviously from left-wing, and you’re trying to make something that’s not…”, before trailing off. == Associated vigilantism ==

In November and December 2025, members of the Raise the Colours group made multiple trips to France to engage in vigilante action against migrants. They were joined on some of these trips by Tommy Robinson associate Danny "Tommo" Thomas and on one by former football hooligan Jason Marriner. In January 2026, the French interior ministry announced that it had banned 10 British nationals associated with the movement from entering or residing in France. == See also ==