Council denies appeasing far right with £500 grants for union flags

A Labour council has been accused of ignoring “flag terror” after offering £500 grants to groups to erect union jack and St George’s flags in a town previously rocked by racial tension.

- Josh Halliday North of England editor

The leaders of Rotherham council, in South Yorkshire, said they wanted the flags to be a “symbol of unity” and did not want to “surrender them to extremist or far-right groups”.

However, it comes at a time of growing concern across Britain about rising ethno-nationalism and intimidation after thousands of national flags were erected by groups with links to rightwing figures.

Rotherham was the scene of one of the worst cases of civil disorder in recent years in 2024 when demonstrators tried to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers as race-fuelled riots spread across England.

The area has also been a magnet for far-right figures since it was one of the first places exposed in the grooming gangs scandal.

In a scheme announced quietly on its website last week, Rotherham council said it would offer £500 grants to community groups and parish councils to cover the cost of erecting a flagpole with either a union jack or St George's flag.

Chris Read, the council's Labour leader, yesterday defended the use of the “tiny” sum of “a few thousand pounds” by an authority whose debts rose to £677m last year.