Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has instructed that the Union Jack be removed from government buildings and an EU flag flown instead.
In the Scottish Government’s new ‘flag-flying guidance’, approved by the First Minister, it was requested that the EU flag should be flown on a daily basis.
The guidance stated: “The First Minister has instructed that the EU flag is flown on a daily basis, except for specific flag-flying dates.”
Prior to this, the EU flag was only to be flown on May 9th, Europe Day. However, now the Union Jack is only to be flown once a year on Remembrance Sunday.
Sturgeon has since been criticised heavily by a number of MSPs, with the move branded as a “token gesture.”
Dean Lockhart MSP reportedly said: “The UK has left the EU, so Nicola Sturgeon’s personal decision to order the flying of the EU flag makes no sense.”
This guidance comes a year after the pro-EU SNP Government narrowly won a vote to keep the EU flag flying over the Holyrood Parliament building. This overturned a decision by the Scottish Corporate Body, a cross-party management group that had previously decided the flag should be removed on January 31st 2020.
In response, Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, said: “Only the Scottish Conservatives have the strength to stand up to the SNP’s damaging and divisive agenda and their 14 years of failed government.”
The decision has split the Scottish Government as the cries for independence grow louder. However, Scotland remains in the UK but not in the EU, irrespective of the flags flown.
