Opposition councillors are to challenge Warwickshire County Council's new flag policy after it was passed despite representation from the authority's LGBTQ+ group.

The cabinet – the panel of Reform UK councillors in charge of major service areas – approved the policy that states the England, UK and county flags will be flown from the three flagpoles outside Shire Hall as a matter of course.

There is scope for royal flags and one representing the armed forces to be flown but any others must be given approval by the chair of the council, a position currently held by Reform UK's Cllr Ed Harris. 

It follows a public storm in which leader Cllr George Finch asked for the Progress Pride flag – up for Pride month – to be taken down.

Chief executive Monica Fogarty, who had historically had discretion to make decisions on flags, refused and quickly became the focus of criticism from Reform UK's Zia Yusuf and party leader Nigel Farage.

A subsequent protest outside Shire Hall included calls for the Pride flag to continue to be flown and the Liberal Democrats announced they have launched a call-in, a process available to councillors unhappy with decisions. 

It places the decision is on hold until a scrutiny panel looks into it and decides whether to ask cabinet to reconsider its decision.

Move to 'reassure' staff

The flag policy was introduced by portfolio holder for customer and localities Cllr Mike Bannister who advocated having a "clear, consistent and lawful" position that reflects Reform's "values of fairness, patriotism and common sense".

"No group will be given automatic pre-eminence or allowed to dominate the public space," he said.

"All will be considered on equal terms."

Within that, he addressed two submissions he had received – one from Warwickshire Pride and the other from Angela Dunne, the co-chair of Warwickshire County Council's LGBTQ+ Staff Network.

The council did not publish either as part of the decision-making process.

Warwickshire Pride published their request that the Pride flag should be included as a matter of course "in recognition of a marginalised and targeted group".

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has requested and is awaiting the staff network submission. Addressing it, Cllr Bannister said: "I'd like to reassure Angela Dunne who wrote to us, and all of the staff, that this policy does not in any way threaten your rights, protections or standing in this organisation. 

"It is not about undermining anyone's freedoms. It is about establishing order and fairness in a space that belongs to all the people of Warwickshire. 

"What would be discriminatory is to elevate one group above all others and grant it a unique right to fly its flag above Shire Hall. That would not be equality, that would be privilege and privilege is not what this council stands for."

Responding to Warwickshire Pride, he said: "Your organisation is entitled to the same rights as any other – no more, no less.

"You do not get automatic precedence and you cannot demand it. Too many groups across Warwickshire face hardship, discrimination and challenges. To give permanent pre-eminence to one would be to push others aside."

He concluded with an open invite for anyone to apply to have a flag flown but rival politicians questioned the motives behind the policy and the process of how it will work.

'Don't give me that rubbish'

Deputy leader of the Labour group Cllr John Holland argued decisions on any new policies should be taken by the whole council, not just the political group in charge.

That could prove a challenge with Reform UK running a minority administration, their lack of an outright majority meaning that other parties are able to club together to vote down proposals.

"We will sign a call-in for this because policy is decided by council, policy is implemented by cabinet," said Cllr Holland.

"The right place to take this is to the next full council meeting which I believe to be the correct procedure, depending on the right number of people signing the call-in notice.

"I would not accept the policy as written because of the absolutely disgraceful events [the backlash against Ms Fogarty] which happened earlier over the flying of the flags.

"We want something that takes the politics out of this and that we can unite behind, where we can celebrate community groups that operate across the county. The proposed policy simply isn't going to deliver that."

Cllr Finch, who in a recent press conference publicly stated he would not influence decisions on flag-flying applications, argued it was right that they should be handled by the "non-political element of the council".

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse dismissed that.

"The chairman is a political appointee. The council votes for him, we all saw it happen so don't give me that," he said. 

"Yes, they try to find a balance but at the end of the day, they belong to a political party and vote for that political party – I've never seen a chairman go against their party in the council chamber anywhere so don't give me that rubbish."

He referred to an "olive branch" where the Lib Dems had requested that any decisions – particularly refusals – should be published "showing the justification".

"It should be done in public, not behind some closed door with perhaps you the leader sat next to him saying 'oh no, you can't do that'," said Cllr Roodhouse, a prospect Cllr Finch laughed at. 

Cllr Roodhouse continued: "We don't know, there is no accountability about it.

"It sounds really nice and cuddly to say the chairman will do it, he's independent. Well we don't know what happens behind that closed door."

What now?

With the Lib Dems confirming their call-in, it is likely that the relevant scrutiny panel will be asked to discuss it and either decide to let the decision stand or ask the cabinet to reconsider.

The option of calling it into a meeting of full council can be instigated if monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury believes the original decision clashes with the council's policy or budget framework but on the face of it, that escalation looks unlikely as there was no existing flag policy to clash with.

After the meeting, the Liberal Democrats released a statement on the call-in.

"There are far more pressing policy matters that the council should be focussed on right now," said Cllr Roodhouse.

"Special Educational Needs services, adult social care, children's services, environmental policy and local government reform plans are all far more important and more urgent.

"This flags proposal is a huge distraction from the real issues facing residents and communities in Warwickshire.

"But the Reform UK Cabinet decided to choose flags as their first policy initiative and their plans need to be changed if they're to work fairly for residents.

"It's the first time for many years that such a request has been made, but our call-in will ensure that Reform don't get away with railroading through a third-rate proposal."