Patriots urged to fly St George's Cross with pride and ignore woke councils

English patriots have been urged to fly St George's Cross with pride - in defiance of councils which want them ripped down.

Labour leadership hopeful Wes Streeting has called for towns and cities across the nation to fly the flag, even though his own colleagues have labelled the banner "stomach-churning".

In what appears to mark a World Cup leadership pitch to English voters, Mr Streeting said ordinary people "love our flag, are proud of our flag and proud of our country".

"We should be proud of it," he told The Sun. "I can't understand why people want it taken down."

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"With the World Cup coming up, isn't this an opportunity for us to fly the flag for England and fly the flag for everyone to celebrate our country, what makes it great, to celebrate our national team."

The ex-Health Secretary said he had been touring the country to speak to voters who feel let down by Labour's nearly two years in power.

He said the levels of pride in the flag outside London was "worlds apart" from how the capital rejects it.

While his own father, whom he descibed as a "mostly Tory-voting, East End patriot", was baffled by left-wingers' refusal to take pride in their nation.

His intervention comes just days after a string of councils were found to be waging war on flag-raisers to protect "community cohesion".

Bristol City Council (BCC), South Gloucestershire Council and Wiltshire Council all demanded locals not to raise the flag on public property.

Green-led BCC even vowed to fast-track the removal of flags hung up in "sensitive locations" and said it would reassess its strategy on taking down those on council-owned properties.

Labour MP Jeevun Sandher has in the past called for the removal of "weird and tatty" St George's Crosses, which he claims make "people feel uneasy".

ENGLAND'S FLAG UNDER FIRE - READ MORE:

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• Thousands of Britons banned from hanging flags from their balconies just hours before World Cup starts
• Surrey Council removes over 1,000 St George's and Union flags deemed 'safety risk'

Fellow backbencher Rachael Maskell said her "stomach churned" when she saw her colleagues waving English flags.

Ms Maskell described the nation's flag as "tatty bits of cloth".

"Keir Starmer with his two Union Jacks regimented behind him… that's not the Labour Party," she blustered.

"The Labour Party is the insurgent to the colonial state, you know, it's not about owning it."

While Oxfordshire County Council has even threatened legal action against patriotic campaign group Raise the Colours.

Its leader, Liz Leffman, raged at how the group's activity was "affecting communities" and went on to voice her pride in the county's "diverse communities".

In November, the chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) said raising flags is "disturbing, intimidating and does not reflect British values".

And Sir Keir Starmer has attempted to "reclaim" the flag in the past.

"It's our flag. It belongs to us, and we will fly it for the values that we believe in," the embattled Prime Minister said at a St George's Day event.

Last night, Mr Streeting issued a message to anti-English councils.

"I just don't get it... Why? What are you doing? You should be putting the flag up," he said.

"It doesn't belong to a particular person, or a particular cause, or a particular part of the political divide. It belongs to all of us," he added.

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