‘Of course we don’t object to the flag flying-we agreed with the vote’.

Councillor Gillian Ford has hit back at reports that the Havering Residents Association did not want the country’s flag flying outside the Town Hall.

“There was no vote because we all agreed. This story from the conservatives is all very bizarre. Of course we don’t object to the flag being flown. Why would we object? It’s our flag.”

Councillor Ford is bemused by the current reports stating the RA’s did not want the flag being flown.

“This vote the Conservatives are saying we didn’t agree with was 22 years ago before many of us were on the Council. The vote that wasn’t a vote as everyone agreed to fly the flag was in 2003.

“The voting records clearly show for everyone to see that there was no vote because everyone agreed with the flag being flow.

“It is our National flag so very important that we fly it, but we must also focus on our communities. It is the people that make our communities and there are many, especially across Romford that feel very disenfranchised at the moment. We must support all our communities.

“I ask those who have made this bizarre statement, when have we criticised the flag being flown over the last 20 years? There is a reason for the flying of the flags and we agree with it. We fully support flags being flown.

“We agree with the National flag and fully support flags such as the LGBTQ flag being flown over the Town Hall and we would never change that. This is all nonsense.”