ROSS KEMP: 'We must reclaim England's flag on St George's Day - racists won't win'

ROSS KEMP: 'We must reclaim England's flag on St George's Day - racists won't win'On St George’s Day, EastEnders hardman turned gang-whisperer Ross Kemp calls on England to reclaim our Englishness, standing up for a nation rooted in pride not prejudiceComments3amopinionRoss Kemp and Hannah Britt, Senior Reporter Mirror Features06:00, 23 Apr 2026View 3 ImagesFormer Eastender Ross Kemp says: 'There isn’t just one way to be English. What matters is that you care for your fellow citizens, feel like you belong here and share the values that hold us together.'(Image: WireImage)Ask people what it means to be English right now, and you won’t always get a clear answer. You might get a shrug. Or maybe an argument. Even some people who are proud of being English – and most of us are – don’t even want to talk about it, following months when high-profile bigots have tried to co-opt our shared identity, and use it to attack people with different skin colour or a different faith.‌That’s nothing new – the National Front tried it before – but it is a real problem. The risk is that if we go quiet, we let those few define our national identity and sully our nation. The good news is that the racists and the bigots are a tiny minority. The vast, vast majority of people see skin colour and religion as irrelevant to Englishness. What matters is belonging, commitment to each other and our shared values.‌READ MORE: Ross Kemp says EastEnders 'fills me with fear' far more than being in war zonesToday is Saint George’s Day. And it’s an opportunity for the quiet majority to raise our voice. To say that our flag isn’t a stick to beat each other with, it’s a rallying symbol of our nation and our values – designed to bring us together. Of course, Englishness is lots of things to different people. And that’s ok. In fact, I hear there’s a new pack of playing cards (a ‘pocket museum’) being launched on Saint George’s day, with 50 objects that the public fe...