MP under fire over mosque flags call

From the archive, first published Wednesday 28th Mar 2007.

An MP has defended his call for mosques to fly the Union flag as a sign of commitment to Britain after it sparked a furious debate.

The Telegraph & Argus reported yesterday that Shipley MP Philip Davies was tabling an Early Day Motion, a form of parliamentary petition, to encourage Muslim communities to adopt the measure after similar proposals were made in Australia.

Within a few hours of the story being published there were more than 50 comments about it on the T&A's website with some mounting vitriolic attacks on Mr Davies.

Others were critical but more measured. Yasmeen, of Bradford, said: "I am loyal to this country and to the law of the land but I do not feel the need to wear a Union Jack headscarf to prove that."

Khan, of Bradford, said: "How many times do we have to prove that we are British Muslims? Now what they wants us to do is drink beer and eat pork and say, hey fully British'."

Another also called Yasmeen, of Bradford, said: "I think Mr Davies has totally lost the plot, or is this just another election stunt?

"Many of the comments posted have hit the nail on the head, churches only fly the flag on special occasions.

"So why is he singling out mosques? Many leaders have said that instead of enhancing community relation, Mr Davies is ruining all the hard work by many organisations and agencies to improve community cohesion."

But others supported the proposal. Imran said: "In all due respect, it is only a flag, a flag of a country we have sworn allegiance to, so I don't think it would be a concern to fly it from a mosque. Where my concern comes to surface is - every religious building in the UK should be made to carry the flag, should they want to go ahead with this incentive."

Amir, of Bradford, said: "Many countries including America fly the flag on mosques, we have been brought up in Britain and we eat, drink, sleep here. This is home, we are born and bred here, we are lucky to have what we have and the lifestyle we live, the country has taken good care of us."

And Emma, of Bradford, said: "We are lucky enough to live in a multi-cultural society, I just don't think people appreciate sometimes. I am a British white female and I think it is fantastic that our society is mixed - it brings many different cultures and ideas."

Mr Davies said he could not understand some of the criticism. He said: "All I am doing is highlighting what has been done in Australia. At the end of the day this was the idea of a Muslim in Australia - I wish I could come up with these great ideas myself but my Early Day Motion was to celebrate and welcome what Muslims have done in Australia. We have got bogged down in political correctness and in this case it is no good pussy-footing around. There are a number of people in our area who do doubt whether some Muslims are committed to being British.

"When we talk about issues of cohesion and integration everyone knows we are talking about the Muslim people. The whole integration and cohesion debate is all about Muslims - I would be quite happy to see anyone flying the flag as far as I am concerned."