Should Wales be on the Union Flag?

[grim_tales]

Hazel Blears (sp?) says Wales should be represented on the UK Union flag. Do you agree with this?
I watched the HIGNFY episode with this story on, it looked a bit funny, (Welsh dragon in the middle and where was NI?) but meh, it'd be got used to

The UK = England, Scotland, NI (I think?) - Wales is a principality of England, should it be on the UK flag or keep its own flag?

[saltysam]

let it keep it's own flag.

[bradavon]

let it keep it's own flag.

It already has , just like there is a English and Scottish flag. I don't think there's a Northern Ireland flag though, but that's more to do with it already having an Irish flag prior to separation around 100 years ago.

Hazel Blears (sp?) says Wales should be represented on the UK Union flag. Do you agree with this?

No, what a load of PC twaddle. As you correctly point out Grim there is a very good reason Wales is not represented directly. Hazel Blears should do some history research before stirring up this nonsense.

Everyone knows the Union Flag means the UK anyway. Many even think it means Britian which is incorrect, Northern Ireland isn't part of Great Britain. Look at your passport if you don't believe me - "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

Why does it have to lose it's flag? A UK flag and separate flags for each country makes more sense.

[grim_tales]

I agree with that

[bradavon]

Which part?

[grim_tales]

I mean its fine we have our own flags, but all with the exception of Wales are on the Union Flag. Wales would have to be united with GB to be on the Union Flag

[bradavon]

Wales would have to be united with GB to be on the Union Flag.

It already is??? It's Northern Ireland that isn't part of Great Britain.

I didn't realise this but according to Wikipedia Northern Ireland is in fact covered:

"The current design of the Union Flag dates from the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. It consists of the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England), edged in white, superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which are superimposed on the Saltire of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland)."

It would've taken 2 seconds to find out why Wales isn't shown directly but is still covered. To change the flag after 207 years of use is absurd. Wales has always held a different place in the Union to Scotland:

"England and Scotland had existed as separate sovereign and independent states with their own monarchs and political structures since the 9th century. The once independent Principality of Wales fell under the control of English monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. Under the Acts of Union 1707, England (including Wales) and Scotland, which had been in personal union since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, agreed to a political union in the form of a unified Kingdom of Great Britain.[16] The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1541 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.[17] Independence for the Irish Free State in 1922 followed the partition of the island of Ireland two years previously, with six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK, which then changed to the current name in 1927 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom

"Wrexham’s Labour MP Ian Lucas said on 27th November 2007 in a House of Commons debate that the Union Jack should be combined with the Welsh flag to reflect Wales’ status within the UK, and that the Red Dragon should be added to the Union Jack’s red, white and blue pattern [2]. He said the Union Jack currently only represented the other three UK nations, and Culture Minister Margaret Hodge conceded that Mr Lucas had raised a valid point for debate. She said the government is: "keen to make the Union Jack a positive symbol of Britishness reflecting the diversity of our country today and encouraging people to take pride in our flag"."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom