Lee Anderson, the Reform UK MP for Ashfield, has lambasted Labour and Conservative opponents of Nottinghamshire County Council’s £75,000 plan to stud lampposts with Union Jacks. The MP accused them of hypocrisy for fretting over pennies while presiding over millions in public waste. Since Reform UK’s May local election victory, the council has approved placing 164 durable Union flags on lampposts at 82 sites across districts, including Mansfield, Ashfield, Gedling, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, Bassetlaw and Newark.
Priced at £475 each – covering brackets, traffic management and installation – the total is funded from internal efficiencies, with no impact on frontline services, according to council leader Councillor Mick Barton. Cllr Barton has defended the move as a timely show of national pride ahead of England’s Euro 2028 qualifiers and other events. He said: “We just feel it’s the right thing to do, and it gives that feel-good factor… When people are putting all these St George and Union flags up, they’re not going to last forever… so we thought we would support the public in what they want.”
The scheme, bypassing a full council vote but open to objections until Thursday, has sparked a fierce backlash, amplifying divides in the county’s politics.
In a post on X viewed more than 219,000 times, Mr Anderson singled out Mansfield’s Labour executive mayor Andy Abrahams for launching a Change.org petition against the plan on cost grounds.
Mr Anderson wrote: “The out of touch Labour Mayor in Mansfield has started a petition to stop the flags being put up due to the cost. The cost is less than 20p per household yet he says nothing about the £6 million a day his Labour Government spend on hotels for illegal migrants.”
He added: “All of them need to shut up, they literally have no right to bang on about waste. All of them need to shut up, they literally have no right to bang on about waste.”
Mr Anderson turned his fire on Nottinghamshire’s Conservatives, highlighting a £500,000 Active Travel Fund cycle lane in Ashfield that he claimed remains unused. He shared footage of former Conservative cabinet member for highways and transport, Councillor Neil Clarke, promoting the project in 2022.
In the clip, Councillor Clarke said: “This is one of our new projects… promoting cycling… And this route will be helping cyclists keep away from traffic and linking into Sutton Town Centre.”
Mr Anderson’s post also included his verdict on the debacle, as he said: “The cheek of it.”
Conservative Opposition leader at the county council, Councillor Sam Smith, has voiced doubts over the spend. He said: “I enjoy seeing [flags flying on the lampposts] but question why a council needs to spend money on putting them up when residents across the county and country are doing it as part of a grassroots, power to the people movement.
“We don’t need to be spending on this when we can be spending money on protecting taxpayer services like libraries, buses and youth services.”
Labour group leader Councillor Penny Gowland raised similar prioritisation concerns. She said: “£75,000 is a lot of money that could be used on council services.
“If flags are about bringing us together, not dividing us, then I’ve got no problem with it. But I think we should have the confidence in our country not to put flags up everywhere.”
Labour councillor Helen Faccio, representing Toton, Chilwell and Attenborough, told the BBC the outlay betrayed Reform’s anti-waste pledges. She said: “Then we hear about huge spending on flags. My residents would say we should spend money filling potholes or investing in youth clubs.”
The dispute underscores strains since Reform’s May triumph, ousting the long-standing Conservative majority. Mr Anderson, who defected from the Conservatives to Reform in 2024, represents Ashfield.
Supporters hail the flags as a heritage affirmation; detractors decry them as a costly distraction amid Nottinghamshire’s status as England’s ninth most deprived shire county.
Objections close Thursday, potentially paving the way for a swift rollout.
