THE PROGRESS Pride flag at the centre a dispute at Warwickshire County Council (WCC) did not have permission to be flown, it has emerged.

The flag sparked a row between the new teenage interim leader Coun George Finch and WCC’s chief executive Monica Fogarty, with Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage also wading into the foray.

Ms Fogarty refused to remove the flag flying at WCC’s headquarters in Warwick before the end of Pride month following a written request from 18-year-old Coun Finch. He ordered for it to be taken down in line with Reform UK’s policy of only flying British flags.

Ms Fogarty said that throughout and before her tenure in the job the flags had always been flown at Shire Hall during Pride month.

She claimed she had already made an agreement with previous leader Coun Rob Howard, before he resigned last week, that both the St George’s flag and the Pride flag would be flown.

Warwick District Council has since revealed that consent was required to fly the Progress flag and, while an application was not submitted, neither had it received an official complaint.

WDC explained that, unlike the Rainbow flag, advertising consent was required to fly the Progress Pride flag.

Reform UK previously accused the chief executive of a “coup d’etat”, in a claim made by the party’s head of government efficiency, Zia Yusuf.

Nigel Farage, the party’s leader, took to X and suggested Ms Fogarty believed she “knew better than the people” and she “should look for a new job”.

The Progress flag, which was flown outside the headquarters in Warwick, differs from the Rainbow flag as a result of adaptations over the years.

It includes colours such as black, brown, pink, pale blue and white stripes, to represent marginalised people of colour in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the trans community and those living with HIV/AIDS.

Coun Finch, 18, is the youngest council leader in the UK. He took over from Coun Howard, who quit his post with immediate effect just five weeks after the party’s shock gains in the May local elections saw it form a minority administration in Warwickshire for the first time.

The Progress Flag has since been removed from Shire Hall following the end of Pride Month.