Proud to be...?

Whose flag? 

For a great many years now we have heard the tired old mantra from Unionists, “Proud to be Scottish, proud to be British”.  Yet when push comes to shove, this slogan seems to nothing but a soundbite and empty rhetoric, with little or no substance to back it up.

One of the most common instances of the empty rhetoric of such Unionists is their attitude towards the national flag of Scotland, the Saltire.  Some Unionists claim that the independence movement, and specifically the Scottish National Party (SNP), have hijacked the Saltire, while others outright claim that it is a Scottish nationalist symbol.  As far back as 2008, then Labour MP Jim Murphy was boasting that he would “reclaim the Saltire” from the independence movement, and he repeated that claim for years afterwards, right up to 2014 when he was campaigning for a No vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum.  Ten days before that referendum, then Labour leader Ed Miliband tried a “Reclaim the Saltire” PR stunt, in calling for Saltires to be flown on public buildings and other places right across the UK.  The call backed up by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, the Saltire even flew for a short while outside 10 Downing Street on that day – not helped by the flag slipping from it’s moorings at the first attempt to raise it.  Otherwise, this call fell upon mostly deaf ears, with only a few places flying the Saltire.

Even after the referendum Jamie Greene, in 2015 Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Ayrshire launched a Change petition “Reclaim the Saltire” under the banner of “I am Scottish Too”, which grew into a campaign.  Greene claims on his website “Are you afraid to fly your national flag for fear of it being interested as a pro-separatist symbol?”  That is not a simple question.  By the very wording of it, it is a loaded one.  Notice the use of the term “pro-separatist” (as for “interested”, I think he means “interpreted”.

More disturbingly still has been the sheer antipathy towards the Saltire, which has people and organisations ordered to take Saltire flags down on the flimsiest of reasoning.  One man in Kirkcaldy flying the Saltire was ordered by the Labour-controlled Fife Council to take his flagpole down because it apparently contravened health & safety guidelines, despite it being up for several years previously, with no complaint.  Also stating health & safety rules the SNP group Renfrewshire Council were ordered to remove their Saltire flag from their office windows by Council leader David Martin.  That was in December 2013, when the windows of many offices in the building were festooned with Christmas decorations, yet the order from the Labour Party leader made absolutely no mention of them.  

Earlier in 2013, the Labour-Tory coalition on Stirling Council passed a motion to remove the Saltire flag from their headquarters and replace it with a Union flag.  In an obviously biased joint statement, Tory councillor Callum Campbell and Labour councillor Danny Gibson wrote;

“Council notes the tone of some of the debate, especially with regards to symbols have fought and died under for 300 years, Council deplores this debasing of our symbols.

"Council resolves to stand for the symbols of  our country by flying the Union Flag from the main pole above the council building and the council flag from the freestanding flagpost in the ground of Old Viewforth."

The more bizarre part of the Stirling story is that the Saltire which flew from Stirling Municipal Building was not even a national Saltire; it was as stylised one with a lion rampant at it’s centre, to reflect and commemorate the city’s connection with the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314.  Something Stirling has every right to be proud of.

"Salty" in happier times

Sometimes this hatred of the Saltire goes way too far.  In 2006 Edinburgh was host to a Cow Parade event, in which 96 brightly painted fibreglass cows were placed around the city (and one in Prestonpans, East Lothian), which were later auctioned to raise money for cancer and animal charities.  It was an amazing event, which really captured the public imagination and brought many visitors to the city.  The Scottish Parliament sponsored one of the cows, Salty, which was located outside the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, and was painted with, you guessed it, a Saltire.  A few cows were vandalised, but none more than Salty, who was smashed to bits, and her head stolen.  Whoever did this – they were never caught – I do hope they are proud.  For apart from degrading their own national flag, Salty was the award-winning design from a little boy who entered a competition in the Edinburgh Evening News.  So if the perpetrators are reading this, hang your heads in shame.

Meanwhile the flag ban on public buildings continues, most recently in North Ayrshire.  Cunninghame House in Irvine, headquarters of North Ayrshire Council, for a long time had a Saltire flying outside it.  At a council meeting on 28 June 2017, Conservative councillor for Irvine West, Scott Gallagher, put forward a motion requesting that the Union Flag be flown alongside the Saltire, claiming he had received emails asking why it was not flown.  “We have had numerous emails asking why the flag is not always flying outside this building,” said Councillor Gallagher, “I’m not trying to have the Union Flag replace the Saltire outside this building.  I’m making an attempt to have both flags flying together.”  SNP Councillor for Irvine East, Marie Burns, made an amendment rejecting the motion and asking that the council retain the status quo, while at the same time lambasting the Tories on the council for making a flag their first priority in the face of swinging Tory austerity cuts.  “This council has struggled to protect the people of North Ayrshire against the impact of Tory austerity,” said Councillor Burns, “a policy that has wreaked havoc on many of our most vulnerable residents, and what do their newly-elected Tory Councillors have to say? 'At least you can see the Union Flag from Cunninghame house.”

In stepped Robert Foster, Labour Councillor for Irvine South, who echoed Councillor Burns about discussing a flag in the face of austerity.  However, rather than move on, Councillor Foster put forward his own motion, that no flag be flown, except on special occasions, when both the Saltire and the Union Flag be flown side-by-side.   The vote between the motions of Councillor Gallagher and Councillor Burns was split 10/10, which meant it went to a draw of cards.  Councillor Gallagher drew the Five of Clubs, while Councillor Burns drew the Three of Diamonds, which should have been the end of the matter; the Tory councillor had effectively won the vote.  However, members then had to vote on the Labour amendment, and with the SNP councillors refusing to take part in the vote (churlish, guys – no-one likes a bad loser), the motion was carried by 11 Labour votes to 10 Tory and Independent votes.  So it is that no Saltire – and no Union Flag – now flies outside of Cunninghame House.  Just how bloody childish can you get?

But amidst all these accusations of the Saltire being ‘hijacked’ by the independence movement as a ‘nationalist symbol’, the most bizarre thing is there is not one iota of truth about that.  To the best of my knowledge nobody in the independence movement has ever tried to suggest that we have some sort of monopoly over the Saltire, nor has anyone ever tried to hold it up as a symbol of Scottish nationalism

SNP "thistle" symbol

Do the SNP hold the Saltire as their emblem?  No, they have their own symbol, which comprises of a circle, which is crossed at the top.  This symbol does indeed incorporate a Saltire, but is also meant to represent a thistle.  And note that the SNP symbol is black on yellow, and not the silver-white on blue Saltire – “A Saltire argent, a field azure” – which makes up our national flag.  Have Yes Scotland ever tried to claim the Saltire as their own or an independence symbol?  No, they simply had the word “Yes”, in a particular style, usually but not always white on blue, or blue on white.

And if anyone is going to claim that using the colours of light blue and white is enough to make the Saltire a nationalist symbol, then I suggest they consider the railway stations of Scotland in the 1950s and 1960s,

when they were painted white with blue woodwork, and station signs were white lettering on a blue background.  Are the Unionists then going to try to claim that British Rail (Scottish Region) were diehard Scots Nats due to this regional colour scheme?  You know, they may well.  I once read an attempted smear story in the Daily Telegraph claiming that Nicola Sturgeon was trying to send a political message by having the Saltire emblazoned on Scottish trains.  Actually, it was Abellio, the company who took over the Scotrail franchise, who decided to paint their trains blue, interspaced with stylised silver Saltires.

A nationalist symbol?

Likewise, I have a Scottish Rugby Union cap which has a little Saltire tag on the back of it.  Would the Unionists then try to claim that the SRU are Scots Nats?  And if they do, are they aware just how many rugby fans vote Tory?  Try well over 50% of them, and even of those who are not Tories, the vast majority are indeed Unionists.

Do we who campaign for Scottish independence wave, carry and even wear Saltires? Yes, we do – because it is our flag, we are proud of it, and we are not afraid to display it.  Do we give little Saltire hand flags out, including to children? Yes, we do.  People often ask for them, particularly people who are so skint due to Westminster austerity that they cannot afford to buy anything from a stall or make a donation.  And yes, that includes parents who particularly ask for flags for their kids.  But here’s also a thing; I don’t like to include children in politics, but I have on occasion from a Yes stall given little Saltire flags to the kids, not as a political gesture, but purely because every bairn loves a flag, no matter what that flag is.  But think on, Unionists, when you shove little Union Flags into the hands on every kid on occasions such as royal visits, just exactly what are you doing?

The Lord Lyon, King of Arms, is the authority on all heraldic matters in Scotland.  This is what the Court of the Lord Lyon has to say on the matter of the Saltire flag;

“The flag of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. Blue with a white or silver diagonal cross reaching to its edges, this is the correct flag for all Scots or Scottish corporate bodies to fly to demonstrate their loyalty and their Scottish nationality.

Its proportions are not fixed, but 5:4 is suitable.

It is correct both to fly it with or instead of the Union flag. If both are flown they must be on separate poles, the Union flag being on the most important pole.”

If anyone reading the above still thinks that the Saltire is a symbol for Scottish Independence, then that is tantamount to suggesting that the Lord Lyon himself is a diehard Scots Nat, which I am sure would raise at least one eyebrow of the Right Honourable Joseph Morrow, the current Lord Lyon, King of Arms. Whatever Lord Morrow’s political affiliations may be, it is worth noting that as the Lord Lyon speaks for the monarch in Scotland, like the Queen, he has to remain officially neutral on political and constitutional matters.

I may not like the fact that when the Union Flag is flown with the Saltire, the Union Flag has to be flown on the most important pole.  But hey, we’re still in the Union, and as long as we are, even I have to abide by the Lord Lyon’s rulings - only independence can change that.  In fact, it angers me that the Scottish Records Office in Edinburgh, which has nothing to do with the Union (and right next door to the Court of the Lord Lyon) has a huge Union Flag flow atop it.  However, amusingly enough, the staff don’t like it either and commonly fly the Union Flag upside-down, which is a sign of distress.  One of the staff has actually said when it has been noted upon “It’s nothing to the distress we feel working in here.”

But by equal measure, as much as I intensely dislike Tory policies, I actually liked the proposals of Councillor Scott Gallagher in North Ayrshire; he wanted the two flags side-by-side, and in all fairness, as he stated, he did not want to remove the Saltire.  True, the council should have been getting on with more important things, but it was a magnanimous gesture, which actually would have broken the ruling of the Lord Lyon, but which would have placated both Unionists and Scots Nats.

Where Stirling Council went wrong was replacing the Stirling Saltire with the Union Flag.  You will notice that the ruling by the Lord Lyon says it is right to fly the Saltire instead of the Union Flag, but says nothing about flying the Union Flag instead of the Saltire.  But then, the Unionists on Stirling Council did refer to the entire UK as “our nation”, thereby ignoring the nationhood status of not just Scotland but also England.

It is interesting to note actually that if there is one thing disturbing about the entire flag debate, it is actually the Tories who are more likely to embrace the Saltire than Labour, who are the ones who all too often want it taken down.  Indeed, the current Scottish Conservatives logo is a stylised Saltire, while the Scottish Labour Party symbol is the same as that of their London-based parent party – a red Rose, which many would argue is actually a symbol of England (or are they Lancastrians and do Labour fare poorly in Yorkshire marginals as a result?).  Now, that is fine for England; honestly, I have no problem with that.  I believe that the Labour Party claim it is a symbol of socialism, and may be linked to the song by James Oppenheim "Bread and Roses" ("Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.").  Well, I very much identify as a socialist, but when I see the Labour Party symbol, I don't think 'socialism', I think 'England'.  And it is not being in any way anti-English to say that is wholly inappropriate for Scotland (or Wales, or Cornwall).  If anyone wants to argue with me or that, would you stand in an English constituency with a thistle as your emblem?

It is also interesting to note that plenty of Labour supporters will more than happily fly the Irish Tricolour, for the Palestinian Flag.  So to some Labour supporters if you seek the six counties which make up Northern Ireland being reunited with the Republic, or freedom for Palestine, you are a champion of freedom, but if you seek Scottish independence, then suddenly you are right-wing, anti-English “separatist”.  That’s the sort of perverse logic we are dealing with here.  Just a note to anyone who thinks like that;  most Scots Nats, myself included, do also support a united Ireland, a free Palestine, freedom for Tibet, for Catalunya, for Quebec, for Wales, for Cornwall (whose nation status we recognise, which is more than Labour, Tories or the Lib-Dems do), and anyone else who wants it.  You cannot support self-determination for one people and not others; to do so is nothing short of hypocrisy.

I can already hear the cries of “closet Tory” from some Labour supporters and members reading this.  Not at all.  I despise the Tories with a vengeance and actually know people in Labour for Independence and other Labour members and supporters.  I am merely making observations and it is not my fault if your party is less likely to embrace Scotland’s national flag – your flag for Scots Labourites – than the Tories are.  You may wish to reflect upon that.  Oh, and for the record, I'm not a member of the SNP either; I am not a member of any political party.

If you are a Unionist and really do think that the independence movement has somehow hijacked the Saltire as a Scots Nat symbol, then there is an easy answer to that; embrace it yourself.  If you are the one claiming that the Satire is your flag, then by all means, take it back – not that it was ever taken from you in the first place. 

The words of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, are plain enough; “this is the correct flag for all Scots or Scottish corporate bodies to fly to demonstrate their loyalty and their Scottish nationality.”   There is the official line.  The Saltire is your flag, and nobody can ever take that away from you.  The only people stopping Unionists from displaying the Saltire are themselves, or other Unionists who have an antipathy towards the flag and seek to take it away from all as a result.

So, here is my challenge, Unionists.  You claim that you are “proud to be Scottish, proud to be British”, put your money where your mouth is and prove it.  If you want to fly the Saltire, by all means, please do.  In fact, this Scots Nat would be the first to champion your right to do so, and could not be happier or prouder to see you take pride in your country’s culture and nationhood.

If you do not, then we can all draw our own conclusions as to your true intentions, and where your allegiance truly lies.