A PETITION against the installation of an eight-storey Union flag at the heart of Cardiff has reached a key milestone.
The campaign by pro-independence group YesCymru has now broken the 10,000-signature barrier – after just two days.
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The petition had racked up its first 1000 signatures less than an hour after being set up.
The massive Union flag will be 288 square metres in size, making it one of the largest Union flags in the world.
It will appear on the UK Government's "hub" in Wales, Tŷ William Morgan (William Morgan House), which is to host more than 4000 staff from various UK Government departments and agencies.
The 12-storey building is opposite Cardiff’s central station and the BBC Wales offices.
Petition organisers branded the flag "an act of political symbolism designed to promote 'muscular Unionism', a reminder to the people of Wales of their subservient status in the United Kingdom”.
Slamming the ridiculous Union Jackery, the petition says: "This flag does not represent the people of Wales and is a blatant political act designed to act as a provocation to the people of Wales.
“We the undersigned call on the Cardiff Council Planning Committee, and its chair [Welsh Labour] Councillor Keith Jones, to withdraw their permission for this advertisement.
“We believe that as the capital city of Wales, visitors, commuters and residents should not be faced with a gigantic Union Jack flag on arrival at Cardiff Central railway station.”
The Union flag does not incorporate the Welsh flag into its design as the principality of Wales had already been united with England when it was created, in 1606.
A former Plaid Cymru leader highlighted the issue in the House of Lords during a debate on the Dunlop Review earlier this week, with the report calling for a restructuring of the way the UK Government works with devolved nations amid growing support for independence.
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Dafydd Wigley highlighted Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford’s assertion that the UK Government had been acting in an “aggressively unilateral way on behalf of the whole of the UK without regard for the status of the nations or the democratic mandates of their governments”.
Wigley also said that, due to the fact Wales is not represented on the Union flag, its use in Wales can be “counterproductive”.
He added: “The Prime Minister's refusal to accept personal responsibility … undermines the [Dunlop] report just as it undermines the Union.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: "Tŷ William Morgan is a significant UK Government building and is the first of its kind in Wales.
"As is practice with similar UK Government sites across the United Kingdom and around the world, it will feature the Union flag as part of its visual branding.
"The flag of Wales is flown at Tŷ William Morgan, which also contains other specifically Welsh branding, while the name of the new building was chosen to reflect the UK Government's investment in Wales and Welsh culture."
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