After flags appeared on roundabouts and lampposts across the country, More in Common asked Britons how they felt about our country’s flags – and those raising them.

Three in five Britons want to see more flags flying in public spaces

Most Britons (58 per cent) say that we should display more Union Jack and St George Cross flags on public utilities such as lampposts and roundabouts.

Reform and Conservative voters are most likely to want more flags flying: 83 per cent of those who voted Reform in 2024, and 72 per cent of those who voted Conservative, want to display more flags on public utilities.

Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green voters are less enthusiastic: 47 per cent of Labour voters and 48 per cent of Liberal Democrats say we should fly more flags in public, alongside just 38 per cent of Green Party voters.

The public tends to believe that councils are removing flags due to real concerns about safety and property damage

Despite criticisms directed toward councils that are taking down flags, Britons lean toward the view that they are doing so out of real concerns over safety and damage to property (42 per cent), rather than because they don’t like the flag (35 per cent).

However, on this issue Britons are again split along party lines: seven in ten Reform voters think councils taking are taking down flags out of political oppostion, whereas three in five Labour voters believe they are doing so out of concerns for safety. 

The public only wants flags to be removed if they pose a safety risk.

Few Britons think that flags should be taken down simply because they don’t have council’s permission – although most draw a line where safety concerns are involved.

Forty nine per cent of the public believe councils should remove flags wherever they pose a safety risk. 24 per cent of Britons think that councils should not remove these flags under any circumstances – although this more than doubles to 52 per cent among Reform voters.

Only 14 per cent of the public think that councils should remove all flags put up without the council’s permission.

Our Seven Segments are split on this point. While right-leaning segments tend to lean more strongly toward the view that these guerilla flags should be left up unless there are safety concerns, Dissenting Disruptors stand out in the fact that nearly half of them (47 per cent) say flags should not be removed under any circumstances.

Equally on the left, Progressive Activists stand out in that more than a third belive that any flags put up without councils’ permission should be removed – more than twice as high as the wider public. 

Pride or protest? The public is split on the motives of those putting up flags

Asked whether these guerilla flag-raisers are doing so out of patriotism, or a protest against immigrants, Britons are split down the middle: 41 per cent believe they are doing so out of pride in Britain and support for the flag; 42 per cent believe they are making a political statement against immigrants.

Views on their motives are split along political party lines, with Reform voters are the most likely to believe those putting up flags are doing so out of pride (53 per cent) rather than a statement against immigrants (40 per cent).

In contrast, Labour voters believe thy are doing so out of opposition to migrants (49 per cent) rather than pride in Britain (38 per cent).

Britons usually don’t judge their neighbours based on their choice of flags

Despite the often highly politicised debates around flags, most Britons across the political spectrum say they are unlikely to think better or worse of neighbours if they see them flying a flag.

Thirty-one per cent of Britons would feel more positively about their neighbour if they saw them flying a Union Jack, while 14 per cent would see them more negatively; the largest proportion (49 per cent) say it would make no difference to how they see them.
Similarly, half (49 per cent) say they would think no differently of a neighbour for flying an England flag, compared to 29 per cent who would feel more positively about them and 16 per cent who would feel more negatively. (For those in England only, this was 33 per cent more positively and 13 per cent more negatively).

Only a quarter of Britons would feel more negatively about someone for flying a pride flag, while 17 per cent would feel more positively; 51 per cent say it would make no difference. 57 per cent say they would feel no differently about a neighbour flying a Ukrainian flag; 13 per cent would feel more negatively and 21 per cent would feel more positively.

Reform voters are more likely than any other voter group to feel differently about a neighbour due to their flag choice.

Three in five Reform voters say they’d feel more positively about a neighbour for flying a Union Flag (60 per cent) or St George Cross (63 per cent) – more so than any other voter group.

Similarly, they are more likely than any other voter group to say they would feel more negatively about a neighbour flying a pride flag (44 per cent), although a larger proportion (53 per cent) say they would either feel more positively or that it would make no difference.