Since Monday, I have been working on attempts by the local Reform party to remove all non-national flags from public buildings (see This Is My City Too and Followup 1: This Is My City Too).

I received the last message today:

The motion going to Wednesday’s Council meeting to which you refer is in the name of Cllr. Philip Crook who is a member of the Reform UK group of councillors. They number eight out of a total of 51 City Councillors. There are 24 councillors in the Labour Group (to which I and Cllr. Lambert belong) and I’m 100% sure that none of us will support this poorly constructed motion for the reasons that you outline. I doubt too if councillors belonging to the Liberal Democrat Group (seven) or the Green Party Group (six) will support the motion. I’m not quite so sure as to how the six Conservative Group members will vote.

So I very much doubt that this motion will be passed. It seems to me as if the primary motivation behind this motion is to generate media publicity by stoking community division rather than bringing people together.

With thanks and best wishes

I found that an immensely reassuring message because it implied that there was an almost mathematical certaintity that the motion would fail.

I have booked Wednesday afternoon off so that I can attend the protest.

If you hadn’t gathered: this matters to me.

Not because I have a particular attachment to pieces of coloured fabric on flagpoles, but because of what those flags say to the people who see them. Sometimes they are the first indication that a city is welcoming, inclusive, and safe.

That’s a message I want Southampton to keep sending.