In these troubled times nothing is more important showing your allegiance to our proud nation by displaying a Union flag. I have already displayed more Union flags than your website because this matters and because I am more proud than you.
I am therefore delighted that the government has decided to increase our shared sense of civic pride by imposing additional flag protocols on public buildings. The Union flag🇬🇧 unites us as a nation and people rightly expect it to be flown daily. I tut and sigh every time I walk past a council office that fails to fly the Union flag🇬🇧 from its roof, because I know how important it is to display a symbol of national identity at every possibly opportunity.
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The battle to restore the Union flag🇬🇧 to its rightful place at the heart of our society is a long one. It began in 1606 when the flags of England and Scotland were first combined and continued in 1801 with the addition of St Patrick's saltire. Wales has never been represented on the Union flag🇬🇧 because national unity does not stretch to four colours.
Flag facts
🇬🇧 The Union flag has a correct way up, which is to have the white of St Andrew above the red of St Patrick in the quarter nearest to the top of the flagpole.
🇬🇧 Only a nation characterised by pedantry would design a flag with a barely discernible lack of symmetry, then take pleasure in ridiculing those who fail to notice the difference.
🇬🇧 The width of the central red stripes should always be one fifth of the flag's height.
🇬🇧 The white stripes to either side should always be one fifteenth of the flag's height.
🇬🇧 The three diagonal stripes should always be in the ratio 3:2:1, with the central red stripe one fifteenth of the flag's height.
Union flags🇬🇧 are normally twice as wide as they are high, a ratio of 2:1. However there is no official specification, and the army generally uses a 5:3 version instead. In 2008 the flag-obsessed MP for Romford, Andrew Rosindell, put forward a Private Members Bill which would have standardised the ratio at 5:3. This never became law, but would have fixed the flag's proportions as follows.
Flag facts 🇬🇧
🇬🇧 In the 2:1 version, the horizontal 50 becomes 60 and the two 20s become 25s.
🇬🇧 In the 2:1 version, 37.4% of the Union flag is red, 34.2% is white and 28.4% is blue.
No permission is needed to fly the Union flag🇬🇧. This means there is absolutely no reason not to have one flapping proudly above your back garden, other than living in a flat which automatically makes you an unpatriotic traitor. However there are several planning regulations relating to buildings and flagpoles and these must be strictly adhered to.
Flagpole rules for non-government buildings 🇬🇧
🇬🇧 The maximum number of flagpoles is two, one on the building and one in the grounds.
🇬🇧 Flagpoles in the grounds of a building must not exceed 4.6m in height.
🇬🇧 Flags on flagpoles projecting from the side of a building must not exceed an area of two square metres.
🇬🇧 Additional planning consent may be required in a National Park, area of outstanding natural beauty or conservation area.
There are already several designated days when the Union flag🇬🇧 must be flown on UK government buildings by command of Her Majesty the Queen. This year they are...
🇬🇧 Royal birthdays: 9th Jan, 20th Jan, 19th Feb, 10th Mar, 21st Apr, 10th Jun, 21st Jun, 17th Jul, 15th Aug, 14th Nov
🇬🇧 Saint's Days of the home nations: 1st Mar, 17th Mar, 23rd Apr, 30th Nov
🇬🇧 Her Majesty’s Accession, Coronation, Official Birthday and Wedding: 6th Feb, 2nd Jun, 12th Jun, 20th Nov
🇬🇧 Commonwealth Day: 8th Mar
🇬🇧 Remembrance Day: 14th Nov
But Whitehall is now encouraging UK Government buildings to fly the Union flag🇬🇧 all year round. They're not forcing the issue, it's only guidance, but let's make sure that when this ends up in the papers it sounds like mandatory full time Union flaggery.
One downside of this proposal is that the special designated days for royal events and saints days will become redundant. No longer will we look up at the roof of a government building and wonder which minor birthday it is today (20th Jan... Prince Edward's wife?) because the Union flag🇬🇧 will always be there, condemning saints and royals to irrelevant obsolescence.
The other winner in this new guidance is dual flagging. The government is updating the existing regulations to allow for two flags, including at least one national flag, to be flown from the same flagpole. The more flags the better, always more and more flags, because true civic pride can only be displayed through coloured rectangles.
The second flag could be a saint's flag, Commonwealth flag, Armed Forces flag, regional flag or civil ensign. We must thank Eric Pickles for introducing legislation in 2012 permitting the flying of historic county flags like Middlesex, Glamorgan and Cumberland because nothing says flag fanatic like an obsession with defunct administrative areas. This week's updated guidance also revokes planning permission for flying the EU flag, as introduced by the last Labour government, but the NHS flag can now be flown instead so that's clearly excellent.
Flag facts 🇬🇧
🇬🇧 The Flag Institute, founded in 1971, keeps a full directory of county and regional flags.
🇬🇧 Separate Union flag regulations apply in Northern Ireland because the UK isn't a proper union.
🇬🇧 Nobody has yet decided what the Union flag would look like after Scottish independence and/or Irish reunification.
As yet there are no vexillological regulations on the minimum size of Union flags🇬🇧 in Zoom backgrounds, the enforced wearing of enamel Union flag🇬🇧 badges, the saluting of Union flags🇬🇧 on entering a government building, the Pledge of Allegiance as the first act of the school day or coercing the unemployed to wave Union flags🇬🇧 at significant road junctions, but let's hope all these are coming soon.
Most importantly, as every right-thinking Briton knows, the more Union flags🇬🇧 you have the better.
