Fly the flag of St George as an ensign of inclusivity

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in The Yorkshire Post on 14 October 2025 in which Matt Bromley argues that the St George’s flag is not an emblem of racism and fear, but an ensign of inclusivity and hope…

There’s a story we sometimes tell ourselves: that Britain is an island fortress, a nation apart. It’s a comforting thought for those who feel buffeted by change and anxious about the future. But it’s a myth. Britain has always been a crossroads where people, ideas, and cultures meet. Our language, our food, our music, even our DNA carry the marks of those who arrived here, settled here, and helped shape this land we proudly call home.

And so, when people tell us immigration is a threat to our way of life, that migrants undermine our identity or our prosperity, we must pause and ask: what does it really mean to be British? 

No nation, however wealthy, can throw open its borders. Unmanaged immigration puts pressure on housing, hospitals, schools, and transport. People who enter the country illegally — whether by overstaying visas, arriving in small boats, or through people-smuggling routes — are often left vulnerable, exploited by gangs, and cut off from legitimate employment. That creates a shadow economy and undermines trust in the rule of law. Moreover, when the system is abused, it erodes public confidence in immigration as a whole, making it harder to build consensus for the legal routes that Britain does need.

So yes: we must have firm, fair border controls. We must enforce the rules we set, and we must invest in infrastructure to match population growth. To pretend otherwise is naïve.

But legal immigration, when controlled, is not a burden; it’s a boon. Our hospitals rely on migrant doctors, nurses, and care workers. Our farms, factories, and hospitality businesses depend on migrant labour to put food on our plates and keep the economy turning.

Migrants contribute more in taxes than they take out in services, particularly when they’re young, skilled, and in work. Migrants help fill labour shortages, boost innovation, and keep our ageing society afloat. In many cases, they take jobs that are hard to fill domestically, not because they undercut wages, but because those jobs are unappealing in their demands or conditions. 

And what of our culture? Imagine Britain without curry or croissants, reggae or raga, and carnival or Chinese New Year. Far from eroding our national identity, immigration has helped forge it.

And then there is asylum. Some say we should turn our backs on those who come here fleeing war or persecution. But Britain has a proud record of offering sanctuary — to the Huguenots, the Kindertransport children, Ugandan Asians. These refugees did not diminish Britain; they enriched it.

Of course, the asylum system needs reform. Cases must be processed more quickly, backlogs reduced, and support made more sustainable. But the principle that we should offer safety to those in peril is not just a legal obligation under international treaties; it is a moral duty. If we lose sight of that, we lose something essential about our humanity.

Let us also remind ourselves that Britain has never been ‘pure’ or insular. Our story is one of arrivals. The Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, the Normans — all left their mark. Later came the Flemish weavers, the Jewish tailors and traders, the Irish labourers, the Windrush workers, the South Asian factory workers and shopkeepers… all who built, cooked, and cared for us.

Multiculturalism is not a recent imposition but an enduring fact of British life. Our so-called “national traditions” are themselves hybrids, born of centuries of exchange. To rail against immigration is, in a sense, to rail against history itself. It is unpatriotic. So, let us fly the flag of St George, itself a symbol of multiculturalism, named in honour of a Roman solider, not as an emblem of racism or fear, but as an ensign of inclusivity and hope. 

To insist that Britain must be monochrome, monocultural, monolingual is not patriotism but parochialism. Real patriotism recognises that our strength lies in our openness, our tolerance, our capacity to evolve. It is possible to be proud of our borders, our institutions, our traditions – and, yes, our flag — and yet also proud of our inclusivity and diversity.