Sadiq Khan accused of showing ‘clear aversion’ to St George’s Cross as London Mayor urged to 'proudly' fly England flag

Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of having a "clear aversion" to the St George's Cross and urged to fly the England flag

Official records showed he has flown Pride and minority community flags from City Hall more often than England's national flag since relocating the headquarters to the Royal Docks in 2022.

The records, obtained by The Telegraph, show the London Mayor has raised seven different inclusivity flags from the east London building, while the St George's Cross has appeared on just six occasions over the same period.

Five of those six occasions came on St George's Day on April 23, with the remaining appearance following a request from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport when England reached the Euro 2024 final.

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The Pride-related flags flown from City Hall include banners representing bisexual, lesbian, transgender and intersex-inclusive pride, alongside the Progress Pride flag.

Sir Sadiq has also flown the Windrush flag, celebrating Caribbean migrants and their descendants, as well as the Romani flag.

Other national flags to have flown from City Hall include those of Jamaica, Wales, Scotland and Ukraine.

Government guidance issued in 2021 encourages councils to fly national flags more frequently to promote civic pride and makes clear no special permission is required.

Alex Wilson, leader of Reform UK's London Assembly Group, accused the Mayor of showing a "clear aversion" to the St George's Cross.

"As Mayor of London, it is entirely within Sadiq Khan's power to decide which flags are flown at City Hall and when," he said.

Mr Wilson claimed Sir Sadiq had aligned himself with those who wrongly portray the St George's Cross as a symbol of the far-right, describing the suggestion as "abject nonsense".

"Now, during what's likely to be his last World Cup as Mayor of London, is the perfect time for him to see sense, support our lads and fly the English flag with pride," he added.

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Susan Hall, the Conservative leader of the London Assembly, also criticised the Mayor's record.

"We should be proud of our common identity – the thing that should unite us – and I hope this is a wake-up call to Sir Sadiq to start flying our flag proudly," she said.

Mrs Hall noted that former Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone ensured the St George's Cross was flown on every England matchday during the 2006 World Cup.

"Ken Livingstone at least flew it when England were playing football," she added.

A City Hall spokesman said: “City Hall hosts a St George’s Day festival at Trafalgar Square every year to celebrate everything that is great about England and regularly supports screenings and celebration events to bring Londoners together in honour of England’s sporting success.”

The row comes just days after a Lib Dem-run council escalated its campaign against flag-raisers to the High Court after a months-long feud over the Union Jack.

Just as patriotic Britons have been urged to fly their banners for the World Cup, Oxfordshire County Council has supercharged its legal battle to ban raising British flags on lampposts.

The council has applied for an injunction to block the Raise the Colours group from hanging the flag in a bid to "protect" its residents and "values".

It says it carried one out over incidents which included "trespass, obstruction of the highway, and incidents where council teams, contractors and residents have faced confrontation or harassment".

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