Fifty two county flags raised in Parliament Square to bring communities together

ITV News Meridian's political correspondent Phil Hornby discusses the raising of all 52 historic county flags in Parliament Square.

At Olympics time we always think about flags. We love it when the Union flag celebrates a British gold. And we look puzzled at flags we're not familiar with. We ask: Where's that one from?

Well, that's a question a lot of visitors to Parliament Square in London have been asking over the past few days. But all the flags on display are British. Or, to be more precise, English.

They're the flags of the counties of England. Not of the county councils, not of any councils, but the flags which simply belong to the counties themselves.

• Graham Bartram, Flag expert:

The display is a mixture of ancient and modern. The flag of Kent, with its famous white horse, is thought to be based on Horsa the Jute, the brother of Hengest who founded the kingdom of Kent more than 1500 years ago.

The Hampshire flag, a rose and crown, made its debut in its present form in 2019.

They're full of traditional symbols: the stag and oak tree of Berkshire, the swan of Buckinghamshire, the great bustard of Wiltshire.

Graham Bartram says county flags can have a unifying effect, particularly in these days of globalisation when many people feel disconnected and, as he puts it, "unanchored".

He wants to see them flying outside town halls everywhere. They're flags, he says, which represent the whole county, "not just the institution which empties your bins". 

The Government said the raising of 52 county flags celebrate the traditions that bind our communities together and instill pride in the places we live.