How the Reform council cancelled Christmas

An English county council has warned that the Union and St George flags currently festooning its streets must be torn down if residents want Christmas lights to go up this festive season.

It’s the sort of woke, Britain-bashing nonsense Nigel Farage would ordinarily be spluttering about and GB News leading its bulletins with… except this council is, er, Reform-led Kent Council – the flagship local authority that it said would be a “shop window” into how it would govern well.

Kent county council – whose leader, Linden Kemkaran, once vowed not to remove flags put up “unilaterally by the people of Kent” – told Harrietsham Parish Council that current flags must come down from street lights before Christmas lights could go up because of safety concerns.

The flags are on the A20, which runs through the village. Harrietsham has now appealed to locals who put the flags up to now take them down, saying it was not permitted to do so itself and unless they were removed funds already spent on the festive decorations would be lost.

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Harrietsham council said on its website: “This condition from Kent County Council may result in the installation of the Christmas lights being unable to proceed as planned for 2025. Despite this, the parish council will still be liable for the hire cost, as the arrangements were in place before the permit was issued.”

In August it was reported that highways teams in Kent would not be taking flags down unless they posed a safety risk, such as blocking the view of CCTV cameras or affecting road signage and the safety of the public.

Peter Osborne, Kent council’s Reform cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We fully support communities coming together to celebrate Christmas with festive lights – it’s a valued tradition that brings people together. But safety must come first. Flags on streetlight columns pose a risk during installation, so they must be removed to ensure the lights go up safely and can be enjoyed by everyone.”

It’s the latest in a string of embarrassments for Reform-led Kent, not only the flagship’s number one authority but Farage’s home turf. Last week three more councillors were ejected from the party, taking to five the number to be booted out over a leaked video in which Kemkaran swore and told party members to “suck it up” regarding her decisions. The row follows disquiet over Kemkaran’s plans to hike council tax to the maximum permitted five per cent, having been elected promising swingeing spending cuts would be easy.

It’s a “shop window” into Reform’s governing, alright – even if, as it stands, those shop windows won’t be looking out onto festive decorations come this Christmas time. Bah humbug!