Opposition leader Peter Zinkin described the MP’s intervention as “Labour ineptitude on every level” reports David Floyd
Barnet Conservatives have hit out at comments by Finchley and Golders Green MP Sarah Sackman after she called on Barnet Council to take down flags hoisted on lamp posts in Temple Fortune.
Writing on Barnet Post on Friday, the Labour MP asked the council to step in and remove the union jacks which were put up without permission and which she described as “divisive”.
Sackman, who recently retained her position as a government minister, wrote: “I have heard from many residents concerned about the presence of these flags. Messages I’ve received describe them as unsettling, intimidating and othering.”
She added: “That is not something any of us can ignore. In a community as diverse and inclusive as ours no member of this community should be made to feel unwelcome.”
However, Sackman’s position was criticised by Barnet Conservatives. In a statement issued earlier this week, the opposition group said that the MP’s stance “runs directly against the council’s own position” adding that she was “pressing her own party’s council to abandon that policy and spend money it does not have – with nothing to stop the flags being replaced the following day.”
Tory leader Peter Zinkin, who is a councillor for Golders Green ward, said: “This is Labour ineptitude on every level. Her own government is stripping funding from Barnet and London – money redirected, in my view, towards areas where Reform poses an electoral threat to Labour.
“Her own party’s council decided flags were not worth the cost of removing. And now she wants that same council to find the money anyway.”
Cllr Zinkin added: “Residents in Temple Fortune and Golders Green deserve better than political theatre from an MP whose government is making this council’s finances worse.”
Barnet Post contacted the council in a bid to get clarity on the authority’s official position. In response, a spokesperson told the Post: “The council celebrates with pride our nation’s flag, flying the Union flag outside the council’s offices in Colindale and above Hendon Town Hall every day.
“However, the council does not fly flags from its lampposts because they are not designed to hold them safely. While the council’s policy has always been to remove flags from council property where there are safety concerns, the council will not direct scarce public resources towards removing Union or English flags from lamp posts unless required to do so for health and safety reasons.”
They added: “Where removal is necessary, it will be undertaken at a time that represents value for money, such as alongside routine lamp post maintenance.
“There is also a safety concern for individuals climbing lampposts to display flags, and we must ensure road markings remain clear and visible for all road users, particularly those with visual impairments.”
The Post understands this to mean that there are currently no plans to remove the flags that prompted Sackman to raise her concerts, however the council has not yet responded to a follow-up query asking it to confirm this.
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