A council tree surgeon has been stripped of his job after erecting several hundred union flags on an A-Road in Cambridgeshire.

Billy Crotty attached more than 300 British flags to lampposts on the A1198 near Royston.

Steeple Morden Parish Council has now cancelled the arborist’s £9,000 contract to remove conifers.

It said the decision had been taken as it is a ‘politically neutral’ body and ‘felt it necessary to withdraw the contract’.

Mr Crotty insisted that the local authority had done the opposite of remaining neutral in making a ‘political judgement’ on his signs.

He told the BBC he didn’t want to ‘intimidate’ anyone, but admitted that the flags were at least part of a protest against illegal immigration.

‘I’ve got five children to feed so it is a bit of a worry.’

Council chair

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