| Operation Raise the Colours | |
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| Part of2025 British anti-immigration protests andFar-right politics in the United Kingdom | |
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| Date | August 2025 (2025-08) – present |
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| Status | Ongoing |
Operation Raise the Colours is a 2025 campaign movement in theUnited Kingdom, consisting of groups that display theUnion Flag and theSaint George's Cross in public places, as well as the flags of the otherconstituent countries of the UK. The campaign began in August 2025 and has particularly aroused controversy around theFlag of England due to its history of use by anti-immigrationnationalists. It has involved tying flags to lampposts and painting them onto mini-roundabouts.
Supporters of the campaign say that this is with the aim of promoting patriotism. The campaign has been supported by several figures and organisations associated with thefar-right, including thefascist political partyBritain First and theanti-Islam campaignerTommy Robinson. It has also found support from members of theConservative Party,Reform UK,Advance UK, and theLabour Party.
Anti-racist campaigning groups such asStand Up to Racism, andHope Not Hate have expressed opposition to the movement. They argue that it is an 'intentional attempt by the far-right to promote their ideas, inflame tensions and intimidate immigrants, asylum seekers and other ethnic minorities at a time of rising anti-immigration sentiment in the UK'. According to Hope Not Hate, Raise the Colours was co-founded by Andrew Currien, who has alleged links to theEnglish Defence League and Britain First.
Opinion polling has shown that white and ethnic minority adults surveyed tend to see the campaign as primarily being an expression of an anti-migrant or anti-ethnic minority message, rather than of patriotism.
Some members of flagging groups have engaged in anti-migrant vigilantism in northern France and on the streets of Paris.
An online campaign called Operation Raise the Colours was founded in August 2025, calling for the public display of theUnion Jack and the flags of thefour nations of the United Kingdom.[1] The stated aim of the campaign was to promote national pride and patriotism.[2][1][3][4] The campaign has involved activists tying up flags on to lampposts and street furniture,[2][1] as well being painted on to mini-roundabouts and zebra crossings.[2][1][4][5]
According to the advocacy groupHope Not Hate, the campaign was co-founded by Andrew Currien, otherwise known as Andy Saxon, who has alleged links to theEnglish Defence League andBritain First.[6] In 2009 Currien pleaded guilty to affray, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, after a 59-year-old man was subjected to racist abuse and crushed to death by a car in Wolverhampton.[7]
A number of groups associated with the campaign have emerged across the country.[8] InBirmingham, a group called the Weoley Warriors claimed responsibility for raising flags inWeoley Castle,Northfield,Bartley Green and other nearby areas.[8][9] Another group installing flags in south Birmingham and north Worcestershire is being run by two men fromBromsgrove, Ryan Bridge and Eliott Stanley, who are "co-founders and company directors ofRaise the Colours".[10] Bridge is awaiting trial in Spain for his alleged role in a holiday compensation claim scam.[11] Stanley "is the previous director of Sex Doll Official, a company selling customised sex dolls that [he] ran with his wife and 17-year-old son".[11][12] Bridge and Stanley have links with convicted football hooligans Dino Wager, Jason Marriner and Glen Hudson. At a 18 October community event inStirchley, Birmingham, organised to protest against the raising of the flags, Bridge and Stanley showed up, accompanied by Dale Hurd of the AmericanChristian Broadcasting Network.[13]
Another allied group called Flag Force UK claimed responsibility for raising flags acrossYork inYorkshire, and has also set up a live map of flags in the region.[8][14] InWorcestershire, the Wythall Flaggers launched a campaign to raise flags aroundWythall.[15][16]
InGreater Manchester a group called Churchill's Lions claim to be responsible for the majority of the flags. An investigation by a journalist atManchester Mill found this group includedBritain First co-leader Ashlea Simon, Emma Boyd, and Lee Twamley - the last of whom was convicted for being part of a five-person illegal immigration operation and sentenced to 20 months in prison after being stopped at the border with four migrants in his van in 2016.[17]
In theLondon Borough of Sutton, builder Billy Cooper fromCarshalton says he is part of a group of 30 people who have been attaching flags to lampposts in the area. As with elsewhere, red crosses have been painted on white mini roundabouts in the borough.[18] In 2018 Cooper had been ordered at Brighton County Court to payAviva more than £13,000 after making a "fundamentally dishonest" £98,000 injury claim when the company's legal team found social media posts showing Cooper regularly working at height as a roofer, and enjoying walking and cycling.[19][20]
Only a few weeks earlier, theSaint George's Cross had been widely flown in cities and towns across England as a show of support for theEngland women's national football team in theUEFA Women's Euro 2025.[2][1][21]
By September 2025, the movement had spread to Scotland and Wales, with the Red Dragon, Saltire and Lion Rampant, theflag of Wales and theflag androyal banner of Scotland, being raised there in a similar fashion alongside the Union Jack.[22][23][24][25]
In Scotland, occurrences were located in areas such asFalkirk,Maryhill andTollcross inGlasgow, as well asPeterhead,Edinburgh,Inverness andAberdeen.[22][25][26]
In Glasgow, the flags were raised by a group called the Tartan Team, which is part of the Operation Raise the Colours movement and is co-run by Kieran Logan, who was reported by theDaily Record to have made racist posts on his social media.[25][27] Logan replied to a social media video of an alleged fight between asylum seekers in Spain with the comment "gas them all" and also shared content claiming "the answer for America lies… in Germany with a man named Adolf". Logan initially claimed mistaken identity but when pressed by a journalist, responded "Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I understand that Hitler went nuts at the end. No wonder, the drugs do that to most people. But at the start he had good intentions. Maybe they slipped a bit but he had good intentions for his country".[12]
In Wales, Welsh flags and Union Jacks appeared inAnglesey,Carmarthenshire,Conwy andDenbighshire.[23][24][28][29] There were also incidents of the English St George's Cross appearing inPembrokeshire,Llandudno andCwmbran to the bemusement and protests of local residents.[30][31][32]
Some have questioned the true motives of the Raise the Colours campaign after it transpired that several far-right activists and organisations, includingBritain First and senior far-right activistTommy Robinson, had supported and promoted the campaign.[33][15][4] Nick Ireland, the Liberal Democrat leader ofDorset Council, warned in August 2025 that the campaign had been "hijacked" by the far-right to promote their extremist agenda and said that flying flags could intimidate residents because of this alleged far-right association. TheSocialist Worker also said the far-right had "co-opted" it.[3][4][34] Supporters of the campaign have denied links to the far-right or any racial motivation, stating that they only wish to promote patriotism and welcome the involvement of volunteers from any political, racial or ethnic backgrounds.[1][15][35]
Anti-racist organisationStand Up to Racism expressed its opposition to the campaign and organised counter-protests against campaigners attempting to put up flags.[1] The group, citing the campaign's support by Robinson and Britain First, claims that it is an intentional attempt by the far-right to spread their ideas, inflame tensions and intimidate asylum seekers, immigrants, Muslims and other minority groups amid risinganti-immigration sentiment in the United Kingdom.[1][36][37] Anti-racist groupHope not Hate have said that some of the campaign's organising had been implemented by far-right activists.[38][39]
Anthropologist Dominic Bryan, who has researched the use of flags in Northern Ireland for more than 20 years, has commented on the phenomenon in Great Britain that:
We’ve heard predictable claims that the flags are just a display of pride in a British or English identity. This is an easy claim to make as it clearly is, in part, to do with nationalistic pride. The point is that they are being hung in particular places, by particular groups of people and in a particular way that clearly links them to the ongoing debates and hostility to migration.[40]
On social media, the Weoley Warriers have shared photographs taken by a member of the group at theUnite the Kingdom march organised by Tommy Robinson in London and shared posts by Polish far-right MEPDominik Tarczyński, who also attended the march.[10] On 15 November, Britain First leaderPaul Golding spoke at an event organised by a flagging group in Kent. Photographs show him drinking in a pub with two key local flagging organisers, Harry Hilden and Jodi Scott. In Wolverhampton on the same date, aPatriotic Alternative banner was displayed directly in front of a large "Raise the Colours" flag at a protest.[41]
Paul Walters, who is the leader of aLoyalistflute band and claims responsibility for raising many of the flags that have appeared inBootle, was found by a journalist to have commented on a social media video of people inblackface, "only way you’re getting a new house these days", and to have shared conspiracy theories that the man suspected of the2025 Liverpool parade incident was not white or British (the man charged is white and British).[12]
The campaign has prompted debate around the meaning of Britain's national flags, patriotism and the potential links of these flags to the far-right and racist movements.[8][15] Commenting on the campaign in August 2025, black academicKehinde Andrews said Saint George's Cross was a "clear symbol of racism" because of its use by far-right anti-immigration activists against immigrants from theWindrush generation in the 1950s and 1960s, stating that it represents "that Britishness, Englishness, is white", whereas the flags of Scotland and Wales are not racist because these countries had historically been "oppressed" by England.[15] However, others such as black singer-songwriterRachel Chinouriri have argued that the flag can be reclaimed despite its racial connotations, with Chinouriri stating that she was proud to be English and to use the flag.[15] Harry Clarke-Ezzidio of theNew Statesman asked ethnic minorities in Birmingham what they thought of the campaign and the flags to a mixed response, with some expressing concern and unease while others supported the campaign and the flags.[8]
The campaign has been met with a similar backlash in Scotland and has prompted similar discussion around the use and meaning of the Scottish Saltire.[42] Right-wing activists have used the campaign as an opportunity to "reclaim" the flag from theScottish National Party and theScottish independence movement, which the Saltire has long been associated with. BBC News asked ethnic minorities in Glasgow and other towns in Scotland about their views on the Saltire with a mixed response, with some stating that the flag-raising campaign made them feel uncomfortable and fearful of racial discrimination while others said they were proud and supportive of the flag.[43] In response to concerns that the Saltire was being co-opted by the far-right, First MinisterJohn Swinney said in September 2025 that the Saltire must be a "flag of welcome" and that he would fight to ensure the Saltire would remain a "an inclusive flag, which is there to draw all of us together in Scotland as an essential part of our national identity".[44][45] Former first ministerNicola Sturgeon called for people to "calm down a little bit about flags" and raised concerns that the spread of the Scottish Saltire was more about anti-immigration sentiment than national pride.[46]
Section 132(2) of theHighways Act 1980 states it is an offence to affix any items to structures on the public highway without permission from the relevant highways authority.[2] On private property in the UK, consent from authorities is not required to fly national or regional flags, or British military flags. Consent is not required for corporate or organisational flags, sports club flags orrainbow flags subject to certain requirements about size and location. Under section 224(3) of theTown and Country Planning Act 1990, a flag can be considered to be an advertisement and may only be flown on private property with the permission of the site owner. Planning permission is generally required to erect aflagpole on private property.[47][48]
Several local councils, includingBirmingham City Council,City of York Council andTower Hamlets London Borough Council among others, have taken down the flags, citing safety concerns and a lack of permission to fly these on council property.[8][33] Others, includingBasildon Borough Council,Harlow District Council,Lancashire County Council and several others, have supported the flags and ordered council staff not to take any down, defending it as an expression of patriotism.[49][50] In Scotland, councils reported that their staff had faced abuse when they tried to take down flags, while anti-racism campaigners in Glasgow said they experienced death threats when taking them down.[51][25] InMaidenhead, a man was arrested for a racially or religiously aggravated public order offence after he abused council workers removing a flag.[52]York Central MPRachael Maskell reported that workers removing flags had been assaulted and that a death threat had appeared on the city walls.[53] InBrighton and Hove, council contractors had to abandon the removal of flags after they faced abuse.[40]Hertfordshire County Council also stated that highways contractors experienced abuse and threatening behaviour when they attempted to take flags down from lamp posts, and that the workers would have to operate with police protection.[54] The council inKnowsley reported that contractors removing flags had faced "completely unacceptable" threats, stating that the "strongest penalties" would be imposed on the offenders.Trafford Council paused the removal of flags after a staff member was abused in the street and threatened on social media.[55]Shropshire Council, run by theLiberal Democrats, said that flags would stay up except for safety or maintenance reasons.[56] Writing in theDaily Mail, the Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch expressed the view that it was "shameful" for local councils to remove the flags.[57]
Kent County Council (KCC), which is led by Reform UK and whose leader had previously promised that the authority would not remove flags, toldHarrietsham parish council that flags would have to be removed in the village before traditional Christmas lights could be installed on the lampposts. The parish council noted that this might mean that the Christmas lights might not be installed but that it would still be liable for the costs of doing so, as the arrangement for their installation had already been made.[58] Peter Osborne, the KCC cabinet member for highways and transport, was reported as stating: "Flags on streetlight columns pose a risk during installation, so they must be removed to ensure the lights go up safely and can be enjoyed by everyone".[59] The leader of Reform-ledWarwickshire County Council announced that the local authority would be removing some flags, the flying of which he had supported, in order to enable Christmas lights to be put up. He explained that contractors had outlined risks including the fact that flags were wrapping around lampposts in windy and wet conditions and the potential for them to come into contact with the Christmas lights, potentially creating a fire risk, and stated "I have chosen the pragmatic option. This was a moment that was always going to come. No one could realistically have expected the flags, exposed to the elements on busy streets, to remain in perfect condition forever".[60]
In some areas local residents have grouped together to remove the flags themselves. InFaversham a group called Faversham Against Racism formed and flyered for a planned "community clean up" to "de-flag" the town.[61] In York a group called the International Flagging Committee raised money through donations to buy flags from across the world, aiming to create "a cityscape that looks like we are hosting the next Olympics".[62] InCaerphilly, South Wales, a road bridge inPontllanfraith was decorated with flags from countries from across the world.[62] An initiative named the 'Everyone Welcome' project was started in response in Manchester, with artists customising St George’s flags with messages celebrating diversity.[62]
In Stirchley, Birmingham, local residents organised a community event on 18 October, at which they hung "love not hate" artwork. Police were called and tried to separate the residents and members of Raise the Colours who had turned up after conversation became heated.[63] InHarborne, also in Birmingham, flags were removed, to which local councillor Jayne Francis responded: "Thanks to those responsible for removing. 99% of people who contacted me last week were uncomfortable with their presence (and were not asked if they wanted them)".[64] In neighbouringBearwood, local activist Salman Mirza took flags down after other residents told him that their presence made them feel unwelcome. Mirza, a British citizen born in the UK who previously served in the army, was the subject of racist messages on X and was called a "foreigner", with one person messaging calling for him to be "detained and deported".[65] InDidsbury political advisor Pablo O'Hana was taking down flags he passed whilst cycling to the gym after which he was confronted by a man at a nearby pub who claimed responsibility for putting them up. O'Hana filmed some of the interaction. He told theManchester Evening News, "I am sick of patriotism being stolen and used as a message of deliberate intimidation."[66]
The leader of Hertsmere borough council, Jeremy Newmark, who is Jewish, called elements of Operation Raise the Colours 'an attempt by a bunch of criminals, extremists and nonces to hijack our national flag'. In response, on 21 September,Kai Cunningham and other members ofWhite Vanguard put up Union flags outside a property inBorehamwood, Essex that they falsely believed belonged to Newmark. The day after, White Vanguard described Newmark as a 'traitor' and 'Zionist Jew'.[67]
Removing flags and repainting roundabouts has caused significant costs for local councils. A freedom of information request sent to 383 local councils revealed that £61,770 had been spent by 36 local authorities. Total countrywide cost could be higher, as the data shows 583 incidents of flag removals across 276 areas but just 36 councils recorded a cost to the work, suggesting many will have absorbed the costs into their budgets.[68] The request showed thatYorkshire councils had spent more than £30,000 removing flags.[69]
North Somerset Council’s cabinet member for Highways told a council meeting in September that repainting road markings and taking down flags had to date cost the council £6,000, enough money to have filled 200 potholes.[70] AKent councillor cited more than £11,000 had been spent to remove flags inMedway.[71]
Nottinghamshire County Council, led byReform UK, has spent £75,000 on Union flags to be put up across the county. Initially this will be 164 flags installed on roads running fromWorksop toRuddington. Opposition parties have criticised the move, saying the money could have been spent on other council services.[72]
According to aYouGov opinion poll conducted between 3 and 16 October 2025, "Both white and ethnic minority adults tend to see this summer’s lamppost flag raisings as primarily about spreading an anti-migrant or anti-ethnic minority message, rather than a display of patriotism". The results also showed that "Ethnic minority adults tend to say they would be uncomfortable if large numbers of England flags were raised in their local area in such a manner".[73]
50% of 3,248 adults surveyed by YouGov thought that those attaching England flags to lampposts were doing so mostly as a way of expressing anti-ethnic minority or anti-migrant sentiment, 25% thought they were doing so mostly as an expression of national pride, and 25% thought both motivations were equal. Amongst ethnic minority adults, the figures were 55%, 15% and 20% respectively. When the question was asked about the Union flag instead, 39% (and 41% of ethnic minority respondents) saw it as an expression of anti-ethnic minority or anti-migrant sentiment, 30% (26% of ethnic minority respondents) as an expression of national pride, and 24% (23% of ethnic minority respondents) saw it as both equally.[73]
As well as raising flags and painting roundabouts, the campaign has also led to other acts of vandalism. These have included painting the flag of England inWales: inLlandudno roundabouts and shop windows were painted,[74] and inHenllys andCwmbran local people turned out to scrub graffiti from signs and bus stops.[75][76]
War memorials inBodmin inCornwall (an area of the UK with its own flag,Saint Piran's Flag, and adebated national identity as separate from England)[77] andKilburn in Derbyshire[78] were vandalised, as well as thePortsmouth Guildhall.[79] TheWestbury White Horse had to be checked for damage from pegs after it was temporarily turned into a St George's flag with red fabric.[80]
Toilets onIlfracombe seafront were marked with red graffiti in a Saint George's Cross style.[81] Roads inLeicestershire were painted with "offensive graffiti".[82] A 33-year-old man was arrested in August 2025 after vandalism of shops inBasildon.[83] In November 2025, a zebra crossing inAudley, Staffordshire was spray painted with St George's crosses for a second time, having previously been painted in August. A council cabinet member "said it would have to be removed at the expense of the taxpayer, when time and resources allowed".[84]
In the early hours of 6 September the windows of music venue The Sound Lounge inSutton, London were smashed. The owners said this had occurred just days after staff at the venue had asked men wearing masks not to attach a Union Flag to a lamppost on the high street outside.[85] In Stirchley, Birmingham on the night of 30 September, two businesses where customers had opposed flags being raised nearby were pelted with flour, eggs and condiments. According to a local newspaper, "locals suspect people connected to the flaggers [were] to blame".[10]
On 4 October amosque inPeacehaven wasset alight by masked arsonists. Speaking toBBC News about the attack, the Brighton and Hove branch ofStand Up to Racism said it had occurred within the context of Raise The Colours and other vandalism locally, "for a number of weeks now, racist and fascist groups... have been whipping up an atmosphere of hatred and intimidation against black and Asian people across the South Sussex coast with flags, stickers and racist graffiti".[86]
Several political figures and groups, includingKemi Badenoch'sConservative Party,Nigel Farage'sReform UK andKeir Starmer'sLabour Party, have welcomed and defended the flying of flags amid the campaign.[57][1][3][15]
In a radio interview withBBC Radio 5 Live,Keir Starmer stated: "I'm very encouraging of flags. I think they're patriotic and I think they're a great symbol of our nation." He also said: "I don't think they should be devalued and belittled. I think sometimes when they're used purely for divisive purposes, actually it devalues the flag."[87] He later said toThe Guardian that the St George's flag "represents our diverse country" and that he would not tolerate people being "intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin".[88]
Lewis Nielsen of Stand up to Racism has said it "was never about flags, it’s about giving confidence to racists and fascists to target refugees and migrants.”[89]
The campaign has been compared to thesectarianism ofNorthern Ireland, where different, hostile groups paint murals and raise flags to mark their territory.[8][90][40]
In November 2025, members of Raise the Colours visitedGravelines, on the northern French coast. From there, Ryan Bridge filmed content for the organisation's social media pages, in which members of the group waded into the sea, "shouting at migrants boarding dinghies" and "speak[ing] in soundbites about the 'hundreds of thousands of undocumented men' committing 'murders', 'gang rapes' and the 'indigenous white population' being 'replaced in our own country'".[91] The group called for volunteers to help with vigilante action against migrants, stating: "Our country is doing nothing. Weak government, weaker borders. They are doing nothing so we need to make a stand boys". This call included reference to "firms", which theThe i Paper explained is "a phrase that refers to football hooligan groups". Other clips "showed two men saying they were taking matters of illegal migration into their own hands and filming themselves stamping on and smashing a small boat’s engine".[92] Raise the Colours members were joined in some of the videos by Tommy Robinson associate and convicted kidnapper Danny "Tommo" Thomas.[93][94][95]
Bridge and Thomas subsequently travelled toParis, where they filmed themselves harassing homeless migrants sleeping on the streets, posting the videos on the Raise the Colours social media pages. According toThe I Paper, in the videos "the men repeat several claims commonly used by the far right, such as saying that migrants entering the UK illegally are all 'rapists and murderers… coming to a town near you'". In one video, filmed from their car, the pair "accuse one of the migrants of holding a knife – despite his hands being empty – and make him stand back from the car window". The men also made "a number of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracies informed by their short time in France, including stating gangs are not involved in the movement of migrants over the English Channel". A researcher fromHope Not Hate responded to the footage by saying: “Their behaviour normalises the idea that it is acceptable to approach black and brown people and question them on their residential status, or their travel plans, in the name of ‘patriotism’. The fact that they are not only doing these things themselves, but actively encouraging others to do the same, is very concerning".[96]
