Group invoices council for taking down flags in Kettering

A group in Kettering has sent an invoice to North Northants council for £18,000. This is in respect of the removal of over 500 illegally displayed flags on lampposts, which the council itself declined to remove.

As the invoice shows, they’re charging £36 a pop:

As the invoice also shows, they’re probably not 100% serious. Unless those actually are their real bank details.

The war of the flags

For anyone who’s already forgotten, the summer of 2025 saw a new sport break out across the UK. Rival teams of DIY enthusiasts took it in turns to shin up lampposts and either attach or remove flags.

Generally the flaggers claimed they were expressing patriotism. Although their activities often centred on areas close to hotels where asylum seekers lived. And sometimes they defaced the flags with slogans such as “Stop The Boats”.

Those removing the flags occasionally pointed to the alleged illegality of hanging them on street furniture. Some felt they made the area look shabby, often being hung with no regard for formality or aesthetic impact. One council had a bit of a dilemma over whether to prioritise the flags or Christmas decorations.

Jamie Driscoll made the point in the Canary that flags, in themselves, are largely a tool of tribalism. This can be a relatively harmless phenomenon. But in the case of the flag wars it became damagingly divisive.

The Kettering Flagdowners say:

Flags for Kettering are hiding their nasty and divisive right wing agenda behind a cynical veneer of ‘patriotism’.

They add that many other local authorities across the country have been routinely removing such items. And in some cases those responsible for putting them up have themselves received invoices for the cost of removal.

The Flagdowners call upon North Northants council to take down all illegally displayed flags on street lights and to invoice Flags for Kettering (who have illegally been putting them up) for the costs of removal.

Featured image via the Canary