Nigel Farage has pledged legal assistance to the grassroots movement Raise the Colours, whose founder Ryan Bridge is contesting a Birmingham City Council injunction over flag placements on lampposts and street furniture.
Speaking at the Reform UK conference at the NEC on Saturday, Farage responded directly to Bridge's appeal, saying: “If we can help you legally with this fight, we will help you. I promise.” He also claimed that Birmingham City Council “actually hate the country”.
Injunction and legal battle
Bridge, who founded Raise the Colours as a UK-wide movement promoting patriotism and unity, is currently subject to an injunction from Oxfordshire County Council barring flag-raising activities across Oxfordshire. He now faces a separate application from Birmingham City Council, which seeks to bar flaggers from placing flags on lampposts, street furniture, and other council property without authorisation.
According to Bridge, the council is pursuing a £2.6 million injunction for removals. He is due back in the High Court on Tuesday.
Appeal to Reform leadership
Addressing Farage directly, Bridge said: “I’m the founder of a grassroots movement, Raise the Colours, across the UK, where we’ve shown patriotism and unity.” He described Birmingham City Council as “on its knees, government-funded, potholes everywhere, can’t collect the rubbish”, and asked Farage to consider a proposal for raising flags in Reform-controlled council areas through legal means.
Bridge added: “I would like to roll this out with you guys at Reform, and we have a legal and lawful way where we can raise flags in Reform council areas and do it the right way. Would you be happy to read my proposal and go forward?”
Farage's response and broader criticism
Farage responded that he would pass the proposal to his lawyers, adding: “I can’t see why it shouldn’t be legal.” He criticised what he described as an anti-flag and anti-British identity movement, saying: “We’ve had too much of this, haven’t we? Too much of being told we should be ashamed of who we are and what we are, of our flag, our history, our culture, and all of those things.”
He continued: “This is not new. This anti-flag, anti-British-English identity stuff has been around for a long time. What your campaign has done, it’s woken up vast parts of the country, but the old enemy is still there.”
The Reform leader reiterated his commitment: “If we can help you legally with this fight, we will help you. I promise.”
Bridge's High Court appearance on Tuesday will determine the next stage of his legal challenge against the Birmingham injunction, which the council has brought to regulate flag placements on its property.
