A pair of Labour councillors have called for flags attached to lamp-posts to be taken down.

Jon Byrne is a councillor in the Manor ward of Stockport, and spoke about the issue at a council meeting at the town hall on October 9.

England flags and Union Jacks have appeared across Greater Manchester and beyond in recent months as part of 'Operation Raise the Colours', a campaign which has affected many parts of the country.

Cllr Byrne said residents had been in touch 'to express their upsetting concern' about the flags placed around the borough.

He said at the meeting: "We need to make a stand and we need to show that any form of racism is unacceptable, even when dressed up as patriotism.

"I will re-ask as I have done countless times over the past few months, take the flags down without delay."

The call was supported by his Labour colleague Cllr Claire Vibert, who represents the Heatons South ward.

Stockport town hall, seen from Wellington Road South / A6 (Image - Nub News)

She said: "Sometimes it's hard but we have to just do the right thing, so I just wanted to lend my voice to the request from councillor Byrne that the flags are taken down and that we show our communities that we don't tolerate acts that are intended to intimidate others members of our community."

Stockport council is led by the Lib Dems under council leader Mark Roberts.

In September, the council issued a statement about its position on flags in public spaces, saying that they will stay in place unless they pose a safety risk or have slogans written over them.

They could also be removed in future if they become damaged or worn out.

Cllr Roberts said: "I do understand your concerns about the flags, and I can honestly say it hasn't been an easy situation to navigate.

"But like councils across the country, we have been reflecting on the best way to respond to protest activity and to flags on our street furniture without further inflaming community tensions.

"This has been an ongoing discussion between myself, cabinet, leading council officers and Greater Manchester Police and community partners.

"For now, flags may remain in place, but we continue to monitor this and where flags pose a safety risk or have slogans written on them, we will actively remove them.

"It's also likely that they will need to be removed in due course once they become damaged and worn, and graffiti will be dealt with as we always have as a council.

"One of the factors that we considered in our response, was that in some areas where councils have taken a decision to remove flags, more appeared almost immediately, which risked increasing tensions, and the safety risk to our staff.

"There's also a concern that removing them could send a signal that the flag itself is divisive, when in fact it represents us all."

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