Citizens of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland woke up this morning in a UK unchanged and never to be the same again.
The Westminster government (and many in what so nearly became ‘the rest of the UK’) will breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Yet politicians of all shades will be aware that their work is just beginning.
The Flag Institute is delighted the Union Flag will continue to proudly serve the UK as it has done for over 200 years.
The inclination may now be to drop the subject, given the enormous list of constitutional holes in need of plugging.
However, the column inches devoted to it in recent days show that Westminster has had a very lucky escape.
The UK flies a national flag which has never been formally adopted.
No one in the machinery of our democratic government is responsible for it.
Scotland’s NO vote has bought us time, but not much.
For generations we have neglected the care of our national flag.
Successive governments have feted this crucial national symbol whenever it suited them.
Yet they have repeatedly failed to take basic measures to respect, protect and care for it.
This mistreatment has often stemmed from poor advice from establishment reactionaries, but this is no excuse.
We have left our flag without any constitutional governance or protection.
Many claim that a dusty British constitutional wooliness sets us above other, younger nations.
Today, however, it lies exposed as an arrogant and lazy indifference that so nearly ended in the dismantling of our once Great Britain.
Yesterday Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom.
Today the debate about the future of our Union (and with it our Union flag) starts in earnest.
Government must look up from its dusty constitutional ledgers.
It must apply the lessons of history rather than use history as an excuse for resisting change.
It’s time to listen to the vibrant democratic clamour of ordinary people living in the real world.
Those who view our most important national symbol in the modern British context of respect for the past tempered by open-mindedness about the future.
The Prime Minister must take decisive action by immediately.
Appoint a minister responsible for the governance of our national symbols and of our national flag in particular.
Appoint a working group as much for their ability to get difficult jobs done as for vexillological, historical political, or constitutional expertise.
Lay a proclamation before Her Majesty formally adopting the Union as our national flag.
Resolve – within weeks – generations of vagueness about our national identity.
Only then can the government expect to lay a guiding hand upon the safety and future of the flag of the United Kingdom.
As the UK’s national flag organisation, the Flag Institute stands eager and ready to play its part.
Charles Ashburner, Chief Executive
Well said indeed. It is astonishing that our flag has no formal protection. Keep up the good work.
Agreed things have to change now in London and Cameron has alluded this this morning. God willing this will include paying attention to the Union FLAG!
A very well written article ! You are absolutely correct in what you say and I hope that those in Government will take heed of your words. It’s quite astounding really that something as important as our national flag is so vulnerable. This does seem to be the right time to make pertinent changes, for example including Wales in the flag which I think could be done creatively and quite easily, and ensuring it is then formally adopted (although I don’t really understand what this means and would welcome further information about it).
The people of the United Kingdom, need to feel united, and including Wales in the flag in this way may help do that. As far as Scotland is concerned, we will have to wait and see how things progress, but perhaps it is the attention to detail that needs expert knowledge, so as you suggest, having a minister responsible for such symbols as the flag would be a perfect step forward.
The flag has survived several centuries without specific legislation and bureaucratic control. Has so much really changed over the last couple of months?
Yes. We might have awoken this morning to a devastated constitutional landscape. The lack of anyone exercising proper care of our national flag – for centuries, as you rightly say – could very well have left the door wide open for this vital national symbol to have been pulled in all directions, and destroyed.
We aren’t the only nation without effective basic governance of our flag because anyone thinks that’s the best way. This situation exists because those who claim responsibility for the job haven’t done it.
Actually it used to have “bureaucratic control” in the form of the Home Office, before it fell between the cracks during one of the many reshuffles. The point is that at present no one is in charge of it, so no one can protect it, or started the process to change it, if that had been necessary. We’ve dodged a bullet with the referendum, but our national symbol still needs better protection than it has.
I endorse what our Chief Executive says. Our flag’s ambiguous constitutional status as the national flag is by custom and practice only, supported by two parliamentary answers quoted in Hansard (in 1908 and again in 1933). No elected representative is responsible for the Union Flag or any other national symbol. No UK-wide authority exercises effective governance over it. There are long and complex historical reasons for this but perhaps the time has come at last, catalysed by the Scottish referendum, to do something about it. For example Australia, a constitutional monarchy exactly like our own, has a minister in charge of these matters who is directly accountable to the Prime Minister. We should do the same. Its not bureaucracy that is needed, but leadership.