How councils tearing down flags has sparked backlash across the UK

Even a few short years ago, the prospect of the national flag being ripped down on official orders would have been unthinkable.

Yet, that’s exactly what is happening in our two biggest cities, London and Birmingham.

Yesterday, as our pictures show, came the extraordinary spectacle of council workers using extendable shears to remove St George’s Cross flags from lamp posts in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets.

Now, the same battle lines are being drawn in Newcastle, Bradford, Norwich, Swindon and elsewhere – as Britons show their patriotic pride. And town halls threaten to provoke fury in response.

Tensions bubbled over in Tower Hamlets yesterday when, around midday at Marsh Wall on the Isle of Dogs, a two-man team from the council spent several hours cutting down Union and St George flags.