Government spent £163,000 on Union flags in two years ‘to boost national pride’

The expenditure is seemingly an effort to show faith in the Union and to show national pride after Brexit

Almost every department in Whitehall has spent up to thousands on Union flags since Boris Johnson became prime minister, according to new figures.

In the past two years alone, the Cabinet has spent more than £163,000 on flying the national symbol – in what some see as an effort to push back ‘against devolution and threats to the Union’.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) spent the most on the red, white and blue flag between 2020 and 2021.

Figures show that the MoD has forked out £118,000 on flags since 2018 – but the DCMS spent a whopping £54,420.89 on them in the last year alone.

The Government’s expenditure on Union flags makes up 85% of all flag purchases in the past four years, showed the figures obtained by The Guardian in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Many of the flags were apparently bought to replace existing ones that were worn-out.

Robert Colls, professor of cultural history at De Montfort University, told the paper: ‘I think what we are seeing at the moment from the Government is a kind of pushback against devolution and threats to the Union.

‘There is something to do with Brexit in it as well. Flying the union flag is a way of saying “no” to the EU blue and stars but whether they are pushing back in any effective way is another question.’

In March, the DCMS published new guidance calling for the flag to be flown every day above Government buildings (Picture: Getty Images)

Union flags have popped up in ministers’ offices and meeting rooms over the last two years (Picture: Getty Images)

Just eight flags, bought in the most recent financial year, cost the Cabinet Office a little under £2,000.

But this still makes up most of the money the department has spent on flags since 2018 – just over £3,000.

An almost identical pattern is shown with the Treasury’s figures, where more than half (£607.06) of the total £1,000 the department has spent on flags since 2018 was forked out this year – for only three flags.

Similarly, the Department for Transport has spent £1,100 since 2018, including £700 last year, while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spent £90.05 on the flags this year, with no record of purchases in other recent years.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spent £392 this year and last – zero in the years previously – while the Department for Work and Pensions spent £1,045 in the last three years. The Department for International Trade spent £653.05 this year and last.

Boris Johnson’s Government’s expenditure on flags has made up the majority of total expenditure since 2018 (Picture: PA)

Finally, the Department for Education spent £134 in 2019 and the Wales Office has spent £824 since 2018. This included £597.50 in 2020-21 and the same amount again on Welsh flags.

The figures come after numerous ministers appeared in press conferences and Zoom meetings proudly brandishing the Union flag in the background.

In March, the DCMS published new guidance calling for the flag to be flown every day above Government buildings.

At the time, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the flag was a ‘proud reminder of our history and the ties that bind us’, and ‘people rightly expect it to be flown above UK Government buildings’.

Institutions can choose to fly national flags or county flags to show ‘civic pride’ instead if they wish.

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