Warwickshire County Council flag policy

31/08/202531/08/2025 simonWP

A new flag policy for Warwickshire County Council has been proposed by Reform councillors. As anticipated, it provides no protections for the continued flying of the Pride flag outside council offices during Pride month. We have written to councillors urging them to object to the policy and would like to invite you to do the same.

Our first letter was directed to the people who had proposed the policy, asking them to enshrine Pride flag protections.

Dear Councillor Finch and members of Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet,

We are the Trustees of the local charity Warwickshire Pride, an organisation that provides services and events for Warwickshire’s LGBTQ+ community and advocates for the rights, inclusion, and protection of that community. Some of you may even have attended our Pride Festival in Leamington last month along with the thousands of other members and allies of the community.

We have reviewed the draft Flag Policy proposed for September 4th’s cabinet meeting. We are strongly concerned by the absence of any mention of the Pride flag and the change to concentrate the authority to decide what flags are flown in a single political role, despite councillors from at least five different political parties making up the council and no party having an overall majority.

Flying the Pride flag is an important symbol of solidarity with, support for, and recognition of a marginalised and targeted group. People who are part of the LGBTQ+ community range from your constituents to colleagues, friends, and family members. As an LGBTQ+ charity we are keenly aware of the non-stop homophobic and transphobic vitriol aimed at the community and its members. The council decision to fly the flag represents the idea that LGBTQ+ people are welcome in society and that they are not alone.

We urge you to amend the proposed Flag Policy to formalise the flying of the Pride flag during Pride month. It has been done so without causing incident for many years and there is no reason to risk a regressionist and outdated move of having to hide rainbow colours.

Yours sincerely,

[individual signatures]

The Trustees of Warwickshire Pride

Our second letter was directed to other councillors asking them to object to the policy. If just six councillors object to a policy, it requires a council-wide vote to pass it.

Dear Councillor,

We are the Trustees of the local charity Warwickshire Pride, an organisation that provides services and events for Warwickshire’s LGBTQ+ community and advocates for the rights, inclusion, and protection of that community. You may even have attended our Pride Festival in Leamington last month along with the thousands of other members and allies of the community.

We have reviewed the draft Flag Policy proposed by Reform leader George Finch for September 4th’s cabinet meeting. We are strongly concerned by the absence of any mention of the Pride flag and the change to concentrate the authority to decide what flags are flown in a single political role, despite councillors from at least five different political parties making up the council and no party having an overall majority.

As you might have surmised yourself from a recent high-profile clumsy attempt to remove the Pride flag from outside council offices, we believe the policy will be used to summarily ban all flags as part of Reform’s ideological attacks on various groups and causes that are widely supported in Warwickshire.

We urge you to object to the proposed Flag Policy in its current form and force a council-wide vote on it. Please do not allow this regressionist and outdated move of trying to hide rainbow colours and reduce the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community.

Yours sincerely,

[individual signatures]

The Trustees of Warwickshire Pride

Visible support for Warwickshire’s LGBTQ+ communities must continue.