A Labour councillor in Oxford has sparked outrage after she urged police to “lie in wait and nab the b*******” responsible for attaching Union flags to lampposts.
The comments from Susanna Pressel came during an Oxfordshire County Council briefing on January 6.
She can be heard discussing the ongoing issue of flags being placed on public infrastructure without authorisation.
“Can they not trace people who are using social media or if flags are repeatedly reinstalled after we remove them, can they not lie in wait and nab the b******* who are reinstalling them so quickly?” she said. “Because that’s the sort of thing I would like to see from the police.”
Union flags have since appeared on the street where Ms Pressel lives.
Speaking on Wednesday, the councillor condemned those responsible, describing the flags as “racist” and “intimidating”.
Her neighbours are “incensed” by the display, she said, with all of them wanting the flags removed immediately.
“They all say they would like these flags taken down at once. I have passed that on to the county council,” Ms Pressel stated.
The trend of attaching flags to public structures has spread across the country since
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The councillor said she receives complaints from a substantial number of people who view the flags as intimidating and racist.
The trend of attaching Union flags, St George’s crosses, Welsh dragons and Scottish saltires to public structures has spread across the country since last summer.
Ms Pressel defended her choice of words by emphasising the context in which they were spoken.
“However, this was an internal county council meeting, in which council officers were briefing councillors on the measures being taken for safety reasons to remove unauthorised flags on council infrastructure,” she explained.
Susanna Pressel made the controversial comments
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OCC
The Labour politician acknowledged she would “never call anyone a b****** to their face”.
Regarding criticism of her language, Ms Pressel pointed to the torrent of abuse she has received since the video surfaced.
“One message says I’m ‘a disgrace and a low life oxygen thieving parasitic cowardly scumbag,'” she revealed.
On the substantive issue, the councillor argued the flags create road safety hazards by distracting motorists.
She also suggested prosecuting those responsible would ultimately prove more cost-effective than continually removing the flags.
Oxfordshire County Council has spent approximately £15,000 removing more than 330 flags across the county up to December 22, 2025, the Oxford Mail reported.
Liam Walker, leader of the county’s Conservative group, branded the expenditure a “complete overreaction”.
“When people ask for potholes to be fixed, they have to wait weeks, yet if there’s a Union flag on a lamppost the council suddenly moves at lightning speed,” he said.
“It’s a complete overreaction and a clear sign that the Lib Dems have got their priorities badly wrong. Perhaps we need to start putting flags in potholes.”
Mr Walker also called on Ms Pressel to apologise, stating her response she would not use such language to someone’s face “falls far short of what is expected”.
“This sort of language is not acceptable in any setting,” he added.