A tree surgeon claims he had his £9,000 contract with a local council ripped up after putting up Union and England flags around his area. Billy Crotty reportedly hung around 300 flags along a stretch of an A-road near Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire earlier this year.

Steeple Morden Parish Council stated that it made the decision to cancel the contract in order to maintain its neutrality. Mr Crotty said the move “seems to me like a bit of [a] virtue signal”. He also said he is considering legal action against the council, adding he believes the job he was contracted to do has now been given to someone else.

England flag put on a lamp post earlier this year (file image) (Image: Getty)

Mr Crotty told GB News he “tried to reason” with the council but they “weren’t having any of it”.

He said he was told it was “nothing” to do with his work which the authority was happy with, adding it was “just to do with the flags”.

“I did say there was nothing illegal about what I had done but they didn’t listen,” he said.

An email from Steeple Morden Parish Council, seen by GB News and dated September 21, informed Mr Crotty that it withdrew its order for the removal of some trees.

The email reportedly said the council believed following “recent public events”, continuing with the order could “create perceptions of alignment or endorsement that the Council, as a public body, must avoid”.

“The Council does not wish to take or appear to take a position on these matters and must therefore withdraw the order,” the email continued.

It added that the decision was “based solely on the Council’s responsibility to maintain neutrality”.

It said this should not be seen as a reflection of Mr Crotty’s work or “the merits of the issues involved”.

Nick Badger, the council’s chairman, reiterated that the authority is a “non-political organisation” and therefore remains “neutral”.

He said this is why the council felt it was “necessary” to withdraw the contract, adding there had been an “intense” press interest in Mr Crotty and his flag raising.

Flags have been seen attached to lamp posts and signs across the UK since the summer.

Supporters have said it is patriotic, while critics have accused this of sowing division amid heightened tensions over immigration.

Mr Crotty told the BBC in September that raising the flags was, in part, a demonstration against “illegal immigration”.

However, he said he did not want to “intimidate anyone”