DEVONIANS have been urged not to vandalise the areas where they live with graffiti and to use flags instead to prevent taxpayers’ money being wasted on repairs.

A wave of St George’s flags have been painted on roundabouts, road markings and street signs across the county, amid a trend that exploded across the nation.

But one of Devon’s newest local politicians, Councillor James Grainger, the Reform UK member for Okehampton Rural, has said that painting flags on public property is the “wrong approach”, not least because of the added burden it puts on Devon County Council’s road workers – as well as the extra cost.

“Unfortunately, as much as many residents like to see the surge in patriotism, with many even telling me they like the graffiti, we must remember this is still vandalism,” he said.

“Our highways team at Devon County Council is working extremely hard, with limited resources, to try and fix our broken roads. If they are tasked with painting new road markings and removing graffiti, it means they are taken away from fixing our dreaded potholes.

“Making the repairs is also an unneeded cost to the taxpayer at a time when budgets are tight.”

Cllr Grainger added that vandalised road markings could cause confusion for drivers, potentially increasing the chance of an accident.

He said he believed some on the ‘far-left’, as he described them, had tried “for many years to manipulate the public’s opinion on [the subject of flags] and turn it into a dirty symbol”.

“But I think we ought to be proud of our unique identity and fly our national symbol with pride,” he said.

“The St George’s flag is a symbol for everything English and represents those on the left, centre and right of politics.

“I think it is unfair to generalise entire groups of patriots as ‘far-right’ or ‘racist’ just in the same way it would be wrong to generalise everyone who flies a Palestinian flag as ‘far-left’ or antisemitic.”

Cllr Grainger said some people felt “silenced and mistreated” by what he characterised as a ‘two-tier system’ that meant, in his view, different people were treated differently by the judicial, legal and welfare systems.

He cited the examples of Lucy Connolly, whose comments about illegal immigrants led to her being given what is believed to be the longest custodial sentence for a single social media post, but Dartford councillor Ricky Jones being found not guilty of violent disorder for remarks at an anti-racist rally.

Ms Connolly told The Daily Telegraph she pleaded guilty after advice from her solicitor. She has now been released from prison having served roughly 40 per cent of the 31-month sentence handed to her.

Cllr Jones was found not guilty by a jury last month.

“It feels like English people are treated as second-class citizens and I think the ‘flying the flag’ movement is a protest against that sentiment,” Devon’s Cllr Grainger said.

“I want it to be a reminder to government that we will not be bullied into accepting the suppression of our culture.

“Being pro-English and wanting to preserve your culture is not far-right or racist, it’s patriotic. So please, fly the flag, be proud to do so, but don’t vandalise our towns by painting flags.”