Gordon Brown in EU Flag Row

Page 2 of the Daily Star on Sunday ...

BROWN FLAGS UP EUROPE ROW

Brown wants EU flag to fly
17th February 2008
By Stephen Paul

LAW changes have been pushed through by Gordon Brown so the Union Flag over Downing Street can be pulled down and replaced with that of the European Union.
And fuming Tory MPs fear that our treasured flag could be replaced by the blue banner with 12 gold stars as early as May 9.

The Daily Star Sunday has obtained evidence that the Prime Minister has already tried unsuccessfully to replace the Union Flag over Downing Street with the EU banner.
An application to Westminster City Council asked for “consent to fly the European flag on May 9 2006”.

It was made by Number 11 when Mr Brown was Chancellor.

The date – Europe Day – marks the anniversary of the creation of what is now the EU in 1950.
But we can reveal that rule changes buried in Government consultation documents last summer gave the EU flag the same status as a national flag.

And that means this Europe Day will be the first one where Downing Street will NOT need to ask permission before flying the EU flag from its rooftops.

Eric Pickles, inset, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government, said: “We already knew that Gordon Brown had raised the white flag of surrender to the EU Constitution.
“Now he has been exposed as trying to fly the EU flag over Downing Street.
“Every day under Labour, British identities and traditions are being eroded and the front door opened to a European super-state.”

Other parties are also furious. Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: “If anything illustrates this Government’s commitment to driving this country into a nation called Europe then this is it.”

Anti-EU campaigner Neil Herron, who has fought an eight-year battle over the right to sell fruit in British weight measures, said: “It’s an absolute disgrace.
“The EU is not the country nor is it the nation state. The flag should remain subordinate.”

Old laws meant only national flags could be flown without planning permission but as of last summer all flags can now be flown.