Tory MP calls for new minister and legislation to 'protect' Union flag

A SECOND Tory MP has called for a minister for flags – and said the Union Jack should be "protected by legislation".

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell made the call in the Commons just weeks after his Conservative colleague, Henry Smith, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Flags and Heraldry, suggested that the UK Government should appoint a “minister for flags”.

Rosindell went one step further, telling MPs that the Union flag should be "protected by legislation".

He said in the Commons on Thursday: “I think many people will be quite angered by the way certain national organisations have tried to change our national flags – the cross of St George and the Union Jack.

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“Isn’t it time that we protected and cherished our national symbols by appointing a minister of the crown to oversee this from the Cabinet Office?

"And will he also look at the Union Flag Bill of 2008 which enshrines in legislation the protection of our cherished national flag?”

Culture Minister Stuart Andrew replied: “The Union Jack should be a unifying symbol for the whole country and it has looked the way it has for the last several hundred years, and I see no point in messing around with it.

“I’m not sure that we need legislation, I think we just need some common sense.”

Rosindell also requested that a public holiday be held to celebrate St George's Day, the feast day of England's patron saint, to have "one great celebration for our country".

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In 2008, he introduced the Union Flag Bill, which called for the Union flag to become the official national flag of the United Kingdom.

The bill, which did not become law, also encouraged public buildings to fly the flag.

The suggestion in the Commons comes after Nike introduced a "playful update" to England's national flag for the country's 2024 Euros kit.

Conservative and Labour figures both voiced backlash to the change, which saw purple and blue stripes added to the cross on the flag.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said later in the sitting that preserving the England flag is “not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire”.

The comments came in response to criticism of her social media posts on Nike’s flag update from SNP Commons leader Deidre Brock.