Local councils across England have admitted to spending nearly $100,000 to remove “unauthorised” flags raised in towns and cities over the summer in an outpouring of patriotism and civil disobedience against the mass migration agenda imposed by the Westminster establishment.
Freedom of Information requests sent to 380 local authorities across Britain have revealed that council governments spent at least £70,000 ($92,000) to combat the grassroots “Operation Raise the Colours” campaign, in which regular Britons hung the Union Jack and St. George’s flags on lamp posts and other street fixtures to express their opposition to mass migration.
The FoI requests were submitted by left-wing political advisor Pablo O’Hana, who sparked controversy in August when he personally took down flags from a footbridge in Manchester.
In a video in which he filmed himself being confronted by a man who raised the flags, O’Hana said that he took them down because “that’s not what our country is”.
O’Hana told The Observer that he believed the actual cost of removing the British and English flags was likely much higher than the admitted £70,000, noting that many councils did not report any spending in relation to the flag protests, and therefore likely used funds from existing budgets to remove them.
While many councils claimed that the decision to remove the flags was made due to safety concerns, some have openly acknowledged political motivations.
Left-wing Labour Party councillor Alex Paterson, who is in charge of community safety for Medway, said that it was “money well spent” as the flag-raising protest was organised by “far-right agitators”.
Medway Council said that it spent nearly £11,600 on removing 727 flags from the streets. Paterson claimed that taking down the British and English flags was necessary to “make the community feel safe again”.
“I think at this stage the world is divided into people who know exactly why these flags were put up and those who are still pretending they don’t know why they were put up,” he told the BBC.
Conversely, the Nottinghamshire council, which is now controlled by Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, has vowed to spend £75,000 ($99,000) to erect 150 Union Jack flags in aluminium frames across the county.
Reform council leader Mick Barton has said that the measure will be funded with savings in axed government waste and will serve to “strengthen community spirit and cohesion”.
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