Following a number of requests from members of the public for guidance on how to respond to Paula Bradshaw’s Private Member’s Bill seeking to establish a Parades Commission style body regulating the flying of flags, the TUV have today published their response which is reproduced below. If members of the public are responding they may find our response useful as a guide but should use their own language if they agree with the points we made,
1. Personal details
2. To what extent do you agree that the display of emblems (such as flags, bunting, banners or posters) associated with promoting or supporting proscribed organisations should generally be prohibited from street furniture in public spaces?
Strongly agree
Comments: While we say we strongly agree for the sake of any other answer being misrepresented, TUV notes the total lack of definition of what constitutes a flag denoting support for a paramilitary organisation. Would the proposer, for example, describe a 1912 UVF flag as one supporting terrorism? If so, we disagree and note that many members of the historic UVF fought and died for freedom at the Somme and on other battlefields of the Great War. Does the proposer agree with us that the Star Bust and Starry Plough flags and the Irish Republic’s national flag are used in Northern Ireland to signal support for illegal terrorist groups? Without such information this is something of a nonsense question.
3. To what extent do you agree that the display of emblems should be permitted on street furniture for the purposes of celebration and commemoration?
Strongly agree
Comments: There should be no question of the state regulating that the National Flag, the Union Flag, and other banners professing loyalty to the state should only fly if permission is given by a quango.
4. To what extent do you believe that it is important that national, cultural or sporting emblems are displayed on street furniture to mark important historical or community events?
Strongly agree
Comments: There is a long-standing tradition within the Unionist community of celebrating the freedoms secured for our nation in the Williamite Wars and subsequent conflicts by decorating streets. Removing or interfering with this right will only increase community tensions.
5. To what extent do you believe that emblems being displayed on street furniture can have a positive impact on the local community, especially around significant cultural events or anniversaries?
Strongly agree
Comments: The displays bring communities together and foster a sense of identity. Additionally, they permit those who often feel with just cause that the sovereignty of their country is up for grabs an opportunity to demonstrate their determination to remain part of the UK – which is why legislation such as this will be identified rightly as something pushed by the Nationalist and Republican Alliance in Stormont to undermine the same.
6. To what extent do you believe that emblems displayed on street furniture are in some instances displayed for reason of intimidation or exclusion?
No opinion
Comments: TUV is opposed to intimidation or exclusion. If this is happening then laws exist which deal with intimidation. Such cases do not justify this proposed Bill.
7. What impact do you think that emblems displayed from street furniture have in business and tourism?
Very positive
Comments: Often the best decorated towns and villages are those which are hosting one or more major parade that year. Such events have huge tourist potential and bring massive numbers of people into the area who do business in the local shops.
8. To what extent do you believe that the display of emblems should be permitted on street furniture specifically within a new regulatory framework designed to ensure that they are displayed within the terms of the Code of Conduct?
Strongly disagree
Comments: TUV is opposed to such a code and notes that the proposer has already said that the Parades Commission – a notorious body within the Unionist community – is part of the inspiration for her idea
9. What impact do you think a new regulatory framework that ensures emblems on street furniture are displayed within a Code of Conduct would have on community relations?
Very negative
Comments: It would feed the belief that one community has its culture policed by the state while the other has their’s not just protected but imposed by the state. Why should Irish signs be imposed on areas where there is just 15% support 365 days a year while a Union Flag flying for a week would require approval from a quango?
10. How long do you feel it is reasonable for emblems to be displayed on street furniture when this is done for the purposes of celebration or commemoration within a Code of Conduct?
Should not be taken down
Comments: The fact that the proposer suggests a maximum period of a month among the responses either exposes her ignorance of the subject she is proposing to legislate on or the fact that this is an attack on Unionist and Loyalist culture. Streets may well first be decorated for Apprentice Boys parades on Easter Monday. In many places, decorations will go up at the end of June (ahead of the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme) and remain in place until after the Royal Black parades at the end of August.
11. Do you believe that extra restrictions should be placed on the specific locations in which emblems may be displayed from street furniture (e.g. outside schools, near places of worship, close to hospitals, on thoroughfares)?
No
12. To what extent do you believe that people or groups who want to display emblems from street furniture should demonstrate genuine community support for this?
Strongly disagree
Comments: How is such support to be assessed? This opens the door to a small number of motivated individuals to stir up tensions or even engage in active intimidation. This proposal is ill thought out and positively dangerous.
13. To what extent do you believe that people or groups who want to display emblems from street furniture should nominate someone to be responsible for their subsequent removal?
Strongly disagree
14. If emblems displayed on public furniture are not removed within a reasonable period of time, should a public authority be given the responsibility of removing them?
No
15. If a public authority is to be held responsible for removing emblems displayed on street furniture outside the Code of Conduct, what is a reasonable time frame for this intervention?
Should not be removing them
16. How best do you think the public could be involved in assisting with identifying if there are emblems displayed on street furniture unlawfully?
No opinion
Comments: Misleading question. Flags are only put up because of the community.
17. What penalty should exist for displaying an emblem from street furniture unlawfully?
No penalty
18. To what extent do you believe any potential costs associated with the proposed bill would be proportionate to its intended outcomes?
Strongly believe they would not
Comments: The very fact that this proposal has been brought forward will only encourage the flying of more flags.
19. Do you have any other comments?
These proposals are totally undesirable and unworkable. We note that because they are coming via a private members bill they are not subject to an equality impact assessment. Additionally, we note that the proposer has no interest in the community background of those who respond to this consultation which reflects poorly on her regard for community relations.
Given the Alliance Party record on removing the Union Flag from City Hall and even seeking its removal from war memorials – something overturned by the courts – they are the last people to be bringing forward a proposal on this sensitive issue.
We note that nowhere does the proposer of the Bill recognise a difference between the National Flag of Northern Ireland, the Union Flag, and any other flag.