DEFIANT Sir Keir Starmer has issued a St George’s Day rallying cry to the country in the “never-ending fight for the flag”.
The Prime Minister launches a savage attack on those who “sow division” - targeting those who whipped up hatred in the aftermath of the Southport killings.
His intervention comes as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said the country is losing any sense of national identity due to the cultural impact of mass migration.
But Sir Keir likens the on-going angst of today with the “best of our country” he experienced in 1996 when it came together during the Euro football tournament at the old Wembley stadium.
He said: “Yet now – we can see people trying to sow division in our communities. People taking the red and white of our flag with them as they throw bricks at businesses.
“That is what happened last year – in the riots. And we must fight it. Because it was the aftermath of the riots that showed what it means to be English.
“It marked the coming together of a country. People who got together the morning after, all across Britain. With shovels, brooms, and brushes, to clean up their communities.
“Rebuilding walls, repairing damage. It’s in that spirit that we reclaim our flag for our country. For English decency, honour and fairness.
“Wrench it out of the hands of those who want to divide this nation. And reclaim it for good.”
Riots erupted last July following the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in Southport before spreading to other parts of the country including London and Manchester.
Sir Keir says that while it’s a day of celebration, the country can’t be “under any illusions” of the battle on his hands.
Labour are becoming increasingly concerned about the progress of Reform as they campaign ahead of next week’s local elections.
Two-thirds of voters in so-called Red Wall seats told a Survation poll featured in The Sun last week that Britain was broken and the country was heading in the wrong direction.
The intervention came at a special event to mark England’s national day in Downing Street attended by NHS staff, police officers, charity workers and celebrities including Ross Kemp.
Guests were invited to eat typically English food at the event including Melton Mowbray pies, Lancashire Eccles cakes and Bakewell tarts.
Number 10 said the PM wanted to invite people who show a “strong sense of English patriotism”.
It follows Mr Farage warning: “I’m very concerned that we have whole areas of our towns and cities that are unrecognisable as being English, but they’re not unrecognisable as being English because of skin colour.
“They’re unrecognisable because of culture.”
But last night, Sir Keir made a thinly-veiled attack on his political opponents as he said the St George's flag belonged to the whole country - not any political party.
Speaking in Downing Street, the PM said: "That flag doesn't belong to me as Prime Minister, it doesn't belong to my party, the Labour Party, or to any group or political party.
"It belongs to all of us, to England in all of its wonderful diversity. And we should be proud of that flag and we must never concede it because it's an expression of our values and our patriotism.”
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