Reform fans would do well not to back UK answer to Trump

THE report in the ECHO (November 11) that the proliferation of St George's flags are creating “no-go zones” for NHS staff, who feel sufficiently threatened on their daily rounds to regard them as displays designed to exclude them, has its echo in the rallying cry from the Reform candidate, Nick Buckley, who applauded groups of “patriots” for spray-painting St George's flags on shop fronts and roundabouts, when he trumpeted: “It’s our country, let's make sure no one forgets”.

- Frank Rice, Prenton

It is a reminder of the flags that separated the Northern Ireland communities during the “Troubles” It is intolerance cloaked in patriotism to confront an “evil “ that does not exist.

The tone for discourse was set by Tommy Robinson, exulting in the Elon Musk video intervention at his flag-waving rally ‘Operation Raise The Colours, when he bellowed, “anyone offended by the UK flag does not belong here” and “can f** off back to the intolerant shithole you came from’.

It is a hue and cry designed to prey upon the anxieties of those affected by job insecurities, unaffordable housing and reduced public services who clearly feel politically voiceless - a despair exploited by the far right to turn every social problem into one of immigration. As the sociologist, Hein de Haas, pointed out in a recent paper: “Immigrants don’t steal jobs, they fill vacancies” - vacancies that others won't fill.