Labour-run council ordering removal of St George's and Union Jack flags is too scared to take down Palestine flags without police protection, leaked email reveals

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A Labour-run council has sparked outrage by ordering the removal of British flags from lampposts - while being 'too scared' to take down Palestine flags without police protection.
Bankrupt Birmingham City Council said hundreds of Union and St George's flags recently hung around the city 'could put lives at risk' by endangering motorists and pedestrians.
The flags had been strung up by a small, organised group of residents to 'show Birmingham and the rest of the country how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements'.
Their display of patriotism was met with a swift response from the city council, which vowed to immediately begin removing the flags due to 'safety concerns'.
The decision was blasted by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick as 'blatant two-tier bias against the British people', after critics pointed out Palestine flags had been left to fly from lampposts across Birmingham for the past 18 months without the council tearing them down.
When the Mail visited the Sparkhill area, where around 80 per cent of the population is Muslim, there were no fewer than seven Palestine flags hanging from lampposts on a mile-long stretch of Stratford Road.
It can also be revealed that the crisis-crippled council has privately admitted it is too scared to try to remove the Palestine flags without police protection.
In a leaked email obtained by the Mail, council cabinet member Majid Mahmood said of the Palestine flags hanging from lampposts in February: 'We are taking these down, but we need the support of the police due to issues that have cropped (up) when we first tried to take them down.'
The backlash has only been intensified by the council simultaneously announcing this week it would light up the city's library in the colours of the Pakistan flag to mark the anniversary of the country's independence, followed by the Indian flag.
Mr Mahmood was among those happily posing for pictures this week as the flag of Pakistan was raised outside Council House in the city centre.
The council, which declared effective bankruptcy in 2023, is already facing intense criticism for its handling of a bin strike which has now lasted for seven months and seen the city's streets buried under mountains of fetid waste.
Mr Jenrick said: 'It is ridiculous that the council are taking down England flags and Union flags while Palestine flags are allowed to remain. It's blatant two-tier bias against the British people.
'Labour-run Birmingham council seem to be ashamed of our country - celebrating everyone other than ourselves. This pathetic self-loathing must end. We must be one country, united under one flag.
'It is a damning indictment of how bad things have become that the council appear too scared to take down unauthorised foreign flags without the police. The authorities cannot allow themselves to be intimidated into submission.'
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The City Council piles bias and absurdity on top of their utter incompetence. After the chaos of the bin strike, where they can't find anyone to empty the bins, they somehow manage to find people to take down our national flag on the eve of VJ Day when British and Commonwealth soldiers lost their lives for our freedoms. Shameful.'
Tory MP Sir John Hayes said: 'Birmingham is a great city, the city of the Chamberlains. Joseph Chamberlain, who was a great patriot and the greatest son of Birmingham, would hang his head in shame.'
A group of residents calling themselves the Weoley Warriors began hanging hundreds of flags from lampposts in areas including Weoley Castle, Northfield, Selly Oak and Bartley Green earlier this week.
They have not revealed their identities but post pictures of their flags on a Facebook group, which says: 'A proud community is a strong community. No matter your background, race or religion we live side-by-side in this country together, so when you look up (and) see the flags fly, they fly for you.'
They have raised more than £4,000 to bankroll their efforts, describing themselves on their online fundraising page as 'a group of proud English men with a common goal'.
Many residents were quick to express enthusiasm for the flags.
Helen Ingram, a historian who lives in Northfield, said: 'Everyone I've spoken to loves them and there's a buzz in the air, an almost carnival-like atmosphere.
'Northfield was once a tight-knit community and it's heart-warming to get back that strong sense of community pride and unity.'
Palestine flags have been prominently displayed in parts of Birmingham with a large proportion of Muslim residents since the start of the recent war in Gaza
Yet the council claimed that the extra weight placed on the lampposts by the flags could 'potentially lead to collapse' and posed a possibly fatal risk to the men hanging the flags, as well as motorists and pedestrians - despite the flags being around 25ft above the ground.
Dr Ingram said residents had found the council's position particularly frustrating due to the number of Palestinian, Ukrainian and Pride flags which 'fly freely around the city every day without issue'.
She added: 'Flying a Union Jack or England flag aligns with this same spirit of being proud of your identity…that is surely a sentiment that a city council should be championing rather than condemning!'
One of the organisers of the Weoley Warriors group said: 'This is unfortunate and disappointing - Birmingham City Council cannot afford to take our bins, but can afford to take our flags.'
Other residents warned the removal of the flags could potentially lead to riots.
The decision was described as 'completely disgraceful' by Cllr Robert Alden, leader of its Conservative opposition.
'Frankly, for the last two years, the council has made little effort to remove Palestine flags and now, suddenly, residents are putting up the Union Jack and St George's Cross and they're saying it's a health and safety risk - it's madness,' he said.
'As a council overall, they are bankrupt. They have got themselves into a complete mess where they're slashing services and putting up council tax - to decide to pick a fight over residents wanting to fly our national flag is just perverse.'
A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said it had removed more than 200 attachments from 'street furniture' this year, including Palestinian flags, but some had been replaced after they had removed them.
The council was said to be planning to upgrade lampposts which meant they had to remain free from attachments so work can be carried out.
The spokesman added: 'People who attach unauthorised items to lampposts could be putting their lives and those of motorists and pedestrians at risk.
'We (are) continuing to do this every week and would ask that staff doing this work are allowed to continue this work unhindered.
'Placing unauthorised attachments on street furniture, particularly tall structures like lampposts, can be dangerous – that is why the council always has to 'stress test' assets around any formal events or celebrations.'