British government flew LGBTQ+ pride flag more often than Union flag at its Northern Ireland headquarters

This information was obtained via a formal request made under Freedom of Information laws, after the NIO press office stonewalled the News Letter’s enquiries.

The news follows unionist criticism of the NIO for what was perceived as its lacklustre efforts to celebrate NI’s centenary during 2021, and a general sense that the Tory government betrayed the Union by agreeing to the Protocol.

The UK government has official guidance on the flying of flags, issued by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

This says that government buildings are “encouraged to fly the Union Flag all year round”, but also lists 11 designated days “when the Union Flag must be flown”.

However, in Northern Ireland this is not merely guidance – it’s also encoded in a piece of law called the Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000.

This covers NI courthouses and any government buildings that are staffed mainly by members of the NI Civil Service, says the NIO.

For those buildings, this law made flag-flying mandatory on 17 designated days.

The NIO claims that its long-time east Belfast headquarters did not count – but all the same, “whilst it was not a legal requirement”, it observed the designated days there anyway.

In recent years, the NIO (like the Tory government in general) has made an effort to publicly show its allegiance to LGBTQQIA+ activists by raising the rainbow flag outside its Stormont offices and changing its online branding during what has grown to become “pride month”.

Asked for details of its flag-flying record last year, the NIO said that “in 2021 the Union Flag was flown on 16 of the 17 designated days – the exception to this was February 19” (the Duke of York’s birthday, which was effectively dropped from the list of designated days).

It added: “The Rainbow Flag was flown for 19 days during Pride Month in 2021.”

However, at present the NIO’s headquarters fly the flag on precisely zero days throughout the year.

That’s because earlier this year it moved from its old Stormont House offices into Erskine House in Belfast city centre.

This building, according to the NIO, is staffed by civil servants but not those of the NI Civil Service and therefore “does not have to follow Flag regulations”.

A spokeperson added: “As the Northern Ireland Office is not the lead UK Civil Service tenant in Erskine House, it is not for us to decide whether to opt in to follow the Flag Regulations or not.”

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