Operation Raise the Colours

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Operation Raise the Colours
Part of 2025 British anti-immigration protests and Far-right politics in the United Kingdom
Clockwise from top:
DateAugust 2025 (2025-08) – present
Location
United Kingdom
Methods
StatusOngoing
Part of a series on
Far-right politics
in the United Kingdom
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History
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Operation Raise the Colours is a 2025 campaign movement in the United Kingdom, consisting of groups that display the Union Flag and the Saint George's Cross in public places, as well as the flags of the other constituent countries of the UK. The campaign began in August 2025 and has particularly aroused controversy around the Flag of England due to its history of use by anti-immigration nationalists. It has involved tying flags to lampposts and painting them onto mini-roundabouts.

Supporters of the campaign say that this is with the aim of promoting patriotism. It has found support from members of the Conservative Party, Reform UK, Advance UK, and the Labour Party. The campaign has also been supported by several figures and organisations associated with the far-right, including the fascist political party Britain First and the anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson.

A number of groups and individuals claim to have started the movement, including the Weoley Warriors, Raise the Colours, and Andrew Currien, who according to Hope Not Hate has alleged links to the English Defence League and Britain First.

Anti-racist campaigning groups such as Stand Up to Racism, and Hope Not Hate have expressed opposition to the movement. They argue that it is an intentional attempt by the far-right to promote their ideas, inflame tensions and intimidate immigrants, asylum seekers and other ethnic minorities at a time of rising anti-immigration sentiment in the UK.

Opinion polling has shown that both white and ethnic minority adults surveyed tend to see the campaign as primarily being an expression of an anti-migrant or anti-ethnic minority message, rather than of patriotism.

Some members of flagging groups have engaged in anti-migrant vigilantism in northern France and on the streets of Paris.

Origins in England

[edit]
Further information: Raise the Colours (organisation)

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.[1] The stated aim of the campaign was to promote national pride and patriotism.[2][1][3][4] The campaign has involved activists tying up flags on to lampposts and street furniture,[2][1] as well being painted on to mini-roundabouts and zebra crossings.[2][1][4][5]

One of a number of people who claims to have founded the movement is Andrew Currien,[6][7] who according to the advocacy group Hope Not Hate has alleged links to the English Defence League and Britain First.[8][9] Currien has thanked Britain First for donating flags to the campaign.[7]

A number of groups associated with the campaign have emerged across the country.[10] 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.[10][11] Another group, Raise the Colours, installed flags in south Birmingham and north Worcestershire.[6] Both the Weoley Warriors and Raise the Colours also claim to be responsible for starting the national movement.[6][12]

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.[10][13] In Worcestershire, the Wythall Flaggers launched a campaign to raise flags around Wythall.[14][15]

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.[16]

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.[2][1][17]

Spread to Scotland and Wales

[edit]

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.[18][19][20][21]

In Scotland, occurrences were located in areas such as Falkirk, Maryhill and Tollcross in Glasgow, as well as Peterhead, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen.[18][21][22] Parts of North Lanarkshire were also affected

In Glasgow, the flags were raised by a group called the Tartan Team, which is 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,[21][23] 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".[24] In Wales, Welsh flags and Union Jacks appeared in Anglesey, Carmarthenshire, Conwy and Denbighshire.[19][20][25][26] 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.[27][28][29]

[edit]

Some have questioned the true 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.[30][14][4] Nick Ireland, the Liberal Democrat leader of Dorset Council, warned in August 2025 that the campaign had been "hijacked" by the far-right to promote their extremist agenda and said that flying flags could intimidate residents because of this alleged far-right association. The Socialist Worker also said the far-right had "co-opted" it.[3][4][31] 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".[32] Supporters of the campaign have denied links to the far-right or any racial motivation, stating that they only wish to promote patriotism and welcome the involvement of volunteers from any political, racial or ethnic backgrounds.[1][14][33]

Anti-racist organisation Stand Up to Racism expressed its opposition to the campaign and organised counter-protests against campaigners attempting to put up flags.[1] The group, citing the campaign's support by Robinson and Britain First, said that it is an intentional attempt by the far-right to spread their ideas, inflame tensions and intimidate asylum seekers, immigrants, Muslims and other minority groups amid rising anti-immigration sentiment in the United Kingdom.[1][34][35] Anti-racist group Hope not Hate have said that some of the campaign's organising had been implemented by far-right activists.[36][37]

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".[38]

On social media, the Weoley Warriers have shared photographs taken by a member of the group at the Unite the Kingdom march organised by Tommy Robinson in London and shared posts by Polish far-right MEP Dominik Tarczyński, who also attended the march.[6] According to Searchlight, Britain First leader Paul Golding spoke at an event on 15 November organised by a flagging group in Kent. Photographs published by Searchlight showed him drinking in a pub with two local flagging organisers. In Wolverhampton on the same date, a Patriotic Alternative banner was displayed directly in front of a large "Raise the Colours" flag at a protest.[39]

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.[10][14] Commenting on the campaign in August 2025, black academic Kehinde Andrews said Saint George's Cross was a "clear symbol of racism" because of its use by far-right anti-immigration activists against immigrants from the Windrush generation in the 1950s and 1960s, stating that it represents "that Britishness, Englishness, is white", whereas the flags of Scotland and Wales are not racist because these countries had historically been "oppressed" by England.[14] However, others such as black singer-songwriter Rachel Chinouriri have argued that the flag can be reclaimed despite its racial connotations, with Chinouriri stating that she was proud to be English and to use the flag.[14] Harry Clarke-Ezzidio of the New Statesman asked ethnic minorities in Birmingham what they thought of the campaign and the flags to a mixed response, with some expressing concern and unease while others supported the campaign and the flags.[10]

The campaign has been met with a similar backlash in Scotland and has prompted similar discussion around the use and meaning of the Scottish Saltire.[40] 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.[41] 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".[42][43] 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.[44]

Legality

[edit]

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.[2]

Councils' and residents' responses

[edit]

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.[10][30] 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".[32] Others, including Basildon Borough Council, Harlow District Council, Lancashire County Council and several others, have supported the flags and ordered council staff not to take any down, defending it as an expression of patriotism.[45][46]

Other councils also reported that their staff had faced abuse when they tried to take down flags, while anti-racism campaigners in Glasgow said they experienced death threats when taking them down.[47][21] In Maidenhead, a man was arrested for a racially or religiously aggravated public order offence after he allegedly abused council workers removing a flag.[48] York Central MP Rachael Maskell reported that workers removing flags had been assaulted and that a death threat had appeared on the city walls.[49] Council workers subsequently wore masks for protection, as a result of the "serious organised harassment and intimidation" they faced.[50]

In Brighton and Hove, council contractors had to abandon the removal of flags after they faced abuse.[38] 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.[51] 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.[52] Shropshire Council said that flags would stay up except for safety or maintenance reasons.[53] Writing in the Daily Mail, the Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch expressed the view that it was "shameful" for local councils to remove the flags.[54]

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.[55] 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.[56]

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.[57]

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.[58] 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".[59] In Caerphilly, South Wales, a road bridge in Pontllanfraith was decorated with flags from countries from across the world.[59] An initiative named the 'Everyone Welcome' project was started in response in Manchester, with artists customising St George’s flags with messages celebrating diversity.[59]

In Stirchley, Birmingham, local residents organised a community event on 18 October, at which they hung "love not hate" artwork. Police were called and tried to separate the residents and members of Raise the Colours who had turned up after conversation became heated.[60] 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)".[61] 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".[62] 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."[63] 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.[32]

The leader of Hertsmere borough council, 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, 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'.[64]

Costs to councils

[edit]

Removing flags and repainting roundabouts has caused costs for local councils. 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.[65] The request showed that Yorkshire councils had spent more than £30,000 removing flags.[66]

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.[67] A Kent councillor cited more than £11,000 had been spent to remove flags in Medway.[68]

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.[69]

Vandalism

[edit]
Vandalism on a roundabout in Borehamwood, 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.[70][71][72]

War memorials in Bodmin in Cornwall[73] and Kilburn in Derbyshire[74] had the England flag painted on them, as well as the Portsmouth Guildhall.[75]

Toilets on Ilfracombe seafront were marked with red graffiti in a Saint George's Cross style.[76] Roads in Leicestershire were painted with "offensive graffiti".[77] A 33-year-old man was arrested in August 2025 after vandalism of shops in Basildon.[78] 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".[79]

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".[80]

Local businesses in Stirchley, Birmingham, have reported experiencing intimidation from Raise the Colours.[81] Two businesses whose owners and customers had opposed flags being raised nearby subsequently had their premises vandalised with flour and eggs.[6][32] 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.[32]

Response

[edit]

Several political figures and groups, including Kemi Badenoch's Conservative Party, Nigel Farage's Reform UK and Keir Starmer's Labour Party, have welcomed and defended the flying of flags amid the campaign.[54][1][3][14]

In a radio interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Starmer stated: "I'm very encouraging of flags. I think they're patriotic and I think they're a great symbol of our nation." He also said: "I don't think they should be devalued and belittled. I think sometimes when they're used purely for divisive purposes, actually it devalues the flag."[82] 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".[83]

The "anti-fascist officer" at Stand up to Racism has 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"[84] and subsequently commented that it "was never about flags, it’s about giving confidence to racists and fascists to target refugees and migrants.”[85]

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".[84]

The chief executives and leaders of several NHS trusts have reported that some staff feel intimidated by flags flying from lampposts, including when they are making home visits. One, speaking anonymously, said that "It felt like the flags were up creating no-go zones. That's what it felt like to them".[86]

The campaign has been compared to the sectarianism of Northern Ireland, where different, hostile groups paint murals and raise flags to mark their territory.[10][87][38]

Public opinion

[edit]

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".[88]

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.[88][89]

Relationship with the media

[edit]

Ryan Bridge and Elliott Stanley have been interviewed several times on GB News.[90] 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.[91]

Associated vigilantism

[edit]

In November and December 2025, members of the Raise the Colours group have made multiple trips to France to engage in vigilante action against migrants. They have been joined on some of these trips by Tommy Robinson associate Danny "Tommo" Thomas and on one by former football hooligan Jason Marriner.[92][93][94]

See also

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Operation Raise the Colours.

References

[edit]
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