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Douglas McAllister

Douglas McAllister

Labour — West Dunbartonshire

Speaking in the House of Commons on 25 June 2025

Debate

Flags: Public Buildings

Contribution

Prior to my election to this place, I was provost of West Dunbartonshire council; “provost” is the Scottish term equivalent to “mayor”. One of my civic roles was to have complete responsibility for which flags would be flown from our civic buildings across the whole of West Dunbartonshire. My experience is that flying flags is often a source of division. Somebody would always object when I decided to fly the Union flag or to fly the saltire. Does the hon. Member agree that the authority to fly flags should never be used to stoke division or hate in our communities? It should always be used as a force for good, such as in the flag-raising ceremonies that we often had on national days across the United Kingdom? We had flags for international Holocaust Memorial Day, Merchant Navy Day, Armed Forces Day and Commonwealth Day. We would fly those flags on our civic buildings. Does the hon. Member agree that there is a purpose to that?
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