Wales: no change to Union Flag

Interviewed this morning by BBC Wales, Welshman and Flag Institute Chief Executive Charles Ashburner suggested that moves to change the flag of the United Kingdom to include Wales are ‘unlikely to be successful for the foreseeable future’.

Such a change might have been hard to resist had Scotland voted for independence.

However, the national mood is now not conducive to a revamp of the UK’s global symbol.

Admiral Lord West, Co-Chair of the UK Parliamentary Flags and Heraldry Committee shares the same view.

As ‘we are remaining one nation we should let sleeping dogs lie and keep the Union Flag as it is,‘ he states.

A straw poll of the Flag Institute Council last night also upheld his opinion.

On behalf of BBC Wales, ICM Research conducted telephone interviews on 19–22 September 2014 with a random sample of 1006 adults (aged 18+) across Wales.

During the Scottish referendum campaign there was discussion over what should happen to the Union Jack if Scotland decided to leave the United Kingdom. The flag has the Scottish Saltire element of the blue background and white cross but it has no Welsh representation. Do you think:

• • A dragon (or green) should be included somewhere on the Union flag as a symbol of Wales: 45%
  • The flag should not be changed at all: 36%
  • Don’t care – it’s not my flag: 16%
  • Other: 2%
  • Don’t know: 1%

Reviewing the poll, Charles Ashburner suggested that Wales would need to show a much clearer desire for change before wider discussions could take place.

He did conclude, however, that a more likely change might involve the Royal Standard.

This already consists of four equal sections, with two currently representing England.

‘The UK has four nations within it,’ he said.

‘It  is not inconceivable that Her Majesty could now choose to include Wales in the Royal Standard.‘