The leader of Sutton Council has doubled down on the removal of hundreds of flags across the borough - and said he doesn't want “cheap flags inappropriately tied to lampposts”.
Barry Lewis issued a scathing response following complaints from residents about the mass takedown of England flags. It comes after the Sutton Guardian revealed that 430 flags were removed by the council or its contractors between May 1, 2025, and May 1, 2026.
Now, new figures have highlighted that the Lib Dem council has spent over £27,000 on flag removals in the past year.
Cllr Lewis, who has insisted he is “very, very patriotic”, said the council is now considering whether to take action against individuals in Sutton known for putting up flags on council property.
READ MORE: Sutton has over 400 St George’s flags removed – what do residents think?
At Monday night’s full council meeting (July 13), Cllr Lewis reaffirmed the council’s stance against unauthorised flag raising, stating: “What we don’t want are cheap flags inappropriately tied to lampposts.”
His impassioned statement came in response to Reform UK councillor Alison Long’s question. She asked: “What does the council find so offensive about the English flag, given that other nationalities are allowed to fly their flag?”
He told the chamber, “I find absolutely nothing offensive about the English flag.” The leader cited his 40 years as a Scout, including his weekly flag salutes, as evidence of his patriotism.
Despite this, Cllr Lewis reaffirmed the council’s policy on removing flags from public infrastructure, while acknowledging that some recent displays may have been linked to support for the England national team during the World Cup.
He said: “It’s really important that the national flag is flown with dignity and as a mark of civic pride, and is not abused for other, more divisive purposes. So yeah, at the end of the football, we will be taking down the flags.”
He added: “You can fly a flag in your back garden, from your window, or from your car. But what you can’t do is fly a flag from one of the council’s lampposts.”
“It’s not right, where does it stop?” he said, to the applause of his recently enlarged Lib Dem majority, which now holds 51 of the 55 seats on the council.
Earlier in the meeting, fellow Lib Dem Trish Fivey asked Cllr Lewis whether the council would take action against known individuals who install flags on public infrastructure without permission.
The question was prompted by the news that Oxfordshire County Council had recently secured a permanent injunction against four named individuals who had previously erected flags on its lampposts.
In response, Cllr Lewis said he had met the leader of Lib Dem Oxfordshire County Council to discuss this, and was now assessing whether the same approach would be replicable in Sutton to prevent future flag raising.
Cllr Fivey also noted that Sutton’s contractors had experienced “issues” when previously removing flags across the borough.
When asked what measures the council is taking to prevent similar incidents, Cllr Lewis said additional security, including from the Kingdom group, had been provided.
“We do have to make sure that our contractors are looked after, cared for, and they’re not put into dangerous situations. But we do still need to take the flags down,” he said.
This comes following a recent Freedom of Information request, made by resident Richard Johnson, which found that the council spent £27,081 removing flags from council assets between 1 May 2025 and 1 May 2026.
While the types of flags were not identified by the council, they did note that the flags were removed from just four locations in the borough: Sutton Central, Beddington, St Helier East and Worcester Park.
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