Mayor signals Union flag will fly from Halifax Town Hall all year

On its social media pages, Calderdale Council made the announcement late on Friday.

The council posted: “The Mayor of Calderdale, Councillor Andrew Tagg, has formally approved the flying of the Union Flag at Halifax Town Hall throughout the year, as of today.

“This is a mark of respect to all the peoples of our great nation.”

Since then more than 500 comments on the issue have been posted on the Facebook story.

Many of the responses are favourable, although some question whether it needed permission and others, and, as happened when Calderdale Council debated policy of flag flying last November, have also drawn in the contentious issue of flags being hung and flown from lamp posts.

Last November, councillors approved a protocol for flying of official flags from council and other public buildings.

A few weeks before the full council’s decision last November, Governance and Business Committee members had recommended the full council approved a protocol for flag flying.

The committee noted the number of “designated days” when flags are to be flown under government guidance, and noted in addition to these there are, throughout any given year, a small number of ad hoc occasions on which the flying of a particular flag takes place.

The approved protocol says: “To ensure consistency in approach to requests made to do so then it is proposed that, as part of this protocol, those requests are initially received by the Head of Legal & Democratic Services who must undertake appropriate consultation ahead of referring the request to the Mayor for a decision.

“The consultation, where appropriate, should include Group Leaders, the Chief Executive and relevant Chief Officers and an Equality Impact Assessment to assess how the flying of a particular flag might affect people with different characteristics protected by law, such as age, disability, race and sexual orientation.”

The Mayor is one of the Reform UK group of councillors elected in May, the group taking overall control of the authority.

On its social media pages, Reform UK Calderdale has indicated the group will be looking to change the policy soon.

Today they posted: “We are proud to see our Union Flag is now flying above the Halifax Town Hall.

“Thanks to the approval of the Mayor, Coun Andrew Tagg, we are able to raise the flag pending our plans to change the policy in July.

“We will put an end to past administration’s flying of foreign flags and symbols of division. We are proud of our great nation and it’s history.”

Giving an idea of some of the comments on the posts responding to the council’s statement on Facebook are the below.

A poster said: “It shouldn’t need permission, it should fly on every government building, including schools, colleges, and university.”

One poster said: “It is great news that the Union Flag will fly proudly over Halifax Town Hall. The same display of national pride should be reflected in all our schools, where the flag ought to be raised as a daily reminder of our shared heritage and values.”

Another said: “I have no concerns about anyone flying the Union Flag in a legal place to fly a flag but I wouldn’t agree with anyone being forced into it.”

One poster said: “It should have been there long before this , but I’m glad to see it flying high now.”

A poster said: “We need to make the flying of the flag a positive thing.”

Another poster said: “I suggest there’s a bit of an obsession in the UK around flying flags at the moment.”

One said: “I have no objection to the display of the Union Flag, but it should not be abused and made commonplace, flying the flag is special and should be treated that way.”

One poster said: “Note it says ‘respect to ALL the peoples of our great nation’. That includes everyone who has migrated here, and their descendants.”

A poster raised the issue of flags which are being illegally flown from lamp posts in parts of the borough: “There’s no issue with this as it’s safely on top of a flag poll, not poorly hung up on a lamp post where it could hit a car.”

But another said: “About time! The flags should also be left on local lamp posts.”