A Green Party election candidate who recently warned against “political abuse” of petition systems has launched his own campaign demanding local authorities prosecute residents who attached Union Jacks and St George’s crosses to Essex lampposts during last summer’s grassroots patriotic movement.
Howard Beaumont’s 9 March petition—which closes 17 April and has garnered over 1,400 signatures—calls for highways services to “immediately remove all flags from lampposts and street furniture” whilst pursuing legal action against “any known individuals who placed these flags, or attempt to do so in the future, in an attempt to recover Essex County Council’s cost of removal.”
The Latton Bush and Stewards ward candidate for Zack Polanski’s Greens justifies removal on “safety grounds,” citing nylon ties that “degrade in sunlight” leaving flags “hanging on by a thread” near carriageways or obscuring road safety signage, alongside risks of residents endangering themselves during attempted removals.
The petition follows informal “Operation Raise the Colours” launched last summer by patriotic activists who attached national emblems across Britain, with flag-raising supporters emboldened after Birmingham and east London councils removed banners.
Ironically, Mr Beaumont warned just weeks earlier that Harlow Council’s e-petition system—which prevents submissions “substantially addressing the same topic” covered within six months—could be “politically abused by bad actors” preventing “genuine public e-petitions.”
The February criticism urged councillors to permit “very low response” petition resubmissions, prompting council leader Dan Swords to defend existing rules as preventing petition system abuse.
Green Party leader Mr Polanski addressed flag-raising last August by invoking colonialism concerns. “If a flag is being used to intimidate people, that is a very difficult conversation,” he told the BBC. “Our country’s got a very problematic history with empire and colonialism, and I think we need a massive national conversation about who is England, who does it represent and actually what does our future look like?”
He claimed the English flag worried people concerned about its “problematic history.”
Mr Beaumont contests the upcoming local elections as one third of Harlow District Council wards and all Essex County Council wards face May polling—the final elections both authorities will hold before Essex’s two-tier system converts to five unitary authorities.
The petition’s timing during election campaigning has prompted questions about political motivations behind safety-focused justifications for removing displays many residents view as expressions of national pride.
