Dad who painted Union Flag on house told he can't be shopping centre's Santa_D

Devastated dad Simon Brocklehurst has spent £1,500 on festive displays, but shopping centre bosses axed his grotto under a new “neutral” policy.

Devastated father Simon Brocklehurst has spent £1,500 on festive displays for children (Image: Joseph Raynor/Nottingham Post)

A patriotic dad who was branded “public enemy number one” after painting the Union Flag across the front of his home has been axed from being Father Christmas at his local shopping centre. Simon Brocklehurst, 42, said he has been left completely “gutted” after bosses told him he is barred from handing out presents from his handcrafted sleigh this Christmas. The devoted father has volunteered as the beloved “Sutton Santa” for four consecutive years at the Idlewells Shopping Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. Mr Brocklehurst, who is fully DBS-checked, revealed he funds the festive cheer entirely out of his own pocket to raise cash for local charities.

“I do it all for free and I buy the presents. I’d just spent a grand and a half on a giant inflatable snow globe and built a model village,” he told the Nottingham Post. “They previously said I could do it and I was just trying to do a good thing.

“There are people that come from miles and miles away just to see me. I don’t want them to be disappointed.” The father said he popped into the centre for a warm drink earlier this month when staff broke the devastating news that his festive services would no longer be required.

Centre bosses have strongly denied the decision is linked to his headline-grabbing home exterior decoration. Jason Truscott, manager of Idlewells Shopping Centre, said the move “has nothing whatsoever to do with the Union Jack displayed” on Mr Brocklehurst’s property.

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Instead, Mr Truscott pointed to a change of hands at the complex. “Firstly, we would like to thank Mr Brocklehurst for his time and contributions to the centre over the past four years,” Mr Truscott said.

“The centre is now operating under new management, and as part of our approach, we are reviewing various aspects of the centre’s activities and arrangements, including our Christmas programme. As a community shopping centre, our priority is to provide a welcoming, inclusive and neutral environment for everyone.

Simon Brocklehurst of Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, with his freshly painted house on September 12, 2025

Simon transformed the St George’s Cross on his home into a full Union Flaglast September in tribute to his grandfather, who fought in WW2 (Image: Tom Maddick / SWNS)

“We remain grateful to Mr Brocklehurst for his previous contributions and wish him all the best.” Mr Brocklehurst shot into the public eye last September after painting a bold St George’s Cross onto his house when his England flag was repeatedly ripped down.

Days later, he added blue panels to transform the artwork into a full Union Flag, insisting the mural honoured the wartime sacrifice of his grandfather, who fought in World War 2. Despite facing fierce online backlash at the time, Mr Brocklehurst insisted the vast majority of local residents backed his tribute, maintaining the display had “nothing to do with racism“.

Simon Brocklehurst on sleigh outside his house

The determined dad is now searching for a new venue to host his Christmas grotto (Image: Joseph Raynor/Nottingham Post)

Refusing to let the shopping centre’s ban ruin Christmas for local children, the determined dad is now hunting for alternative venues in town to set up his grotto. “Hopefully it all works out and I’m now looking at shops that I can move into for Christmas,” he said.

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John Healey must do one thing in the Budget – or we’ll end up like France

There’s a shadow hanging over the UK and the rest of the Western world, but most of us prefer not to think about it.

John Healey may be the only Labour politician who understands the danger of debt (Image: Getty)

If we’re not careful, it will soon be all we are thinking about. Because it lies at the heart of the crisis attacking us on so many fronts today. Britain just set a new and unwanted record as our national debt climbed above £3trillion for the first time. It’s a terrifying milestone, one that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. Now here’s the really terrifying bit. It took the UK 300 years for national debt to hit £1trillion in 2010. By 2020, it had doubled to £2trillion. The next trillion took us just six years. It’s on course to reach £4trillion within the next decade. Assuming everything hasn’t blown up by then. It might.

In 1990, when Margaret Thatcher stepped down, national debt was 28.3% of annual economic output, or GDP. When Gordon Brown was voted out in 2010 after the financial crisis, it had rocketed to 64.6%. Today, it’s nudging 100% of GDP. That increase mostly came under Conservative rule, although the pandemic hardly helped. During the coalition government, chancellor George Osborne tried to reduce the annual deficit, and was slammed for inflicting “austerity” on the nation. It was a funny sort of austerity. We still ran a deficit throughout.

The last time Britain recorded a budget surplus was in 2000/01, when Gordon Brown was still following spending limits inherited from the Tories. Then he opened the spigots, and Britain has run a deficit every year since. Labour is showing little sign of reversing that. In September alone, we borrowed another £21.2billion, despite rocketing HMRC revenues thanks to Labour’s tax blitz. We’re on course to add another £121billion to national debt this tax year. It may be more. Incredibly, Britain is not the worst offender. Our current budget deficit is 4.3% of GDP. In France, it’s 5.4%. In the US, around 6.2%. Neither country is showing much sign of doing anything about it.

Under Donald Trump, US national debt has reached a stunning $40trillion, equivalent to 123% of GDP. France is close behind at 119%. They make us look good. Almost. The French may riot at the drop of a hat, but debt is at the heart of their troubles. Every time the country hits the streets, politicians respond by throwing money at the protesters. Today, children are demanding more cash for their schools. In the past, they might have got it. Today, France doesn’t have the money.

Years of near-zero interest rates after the financial crisis allowed politicians to get away with this. Those days are over. Interest rates on French government debt have just topped 5%, the highest in a quarter of a century. The US gets away with its debt pile because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency and a safe haven in a crisis. But it can’t take privilege for granted forever.

As inflation rises, our borrowing costs will climb further. The UK government already spends £1 in every £10 on servicing debt. Last year, the interest bill cost us £109billion. Money we could have spent on the NHS, pensions, the military, roads, schools or tax cuts. We’re borrowing £4,000 every second.

Andy Burnham infamously said we “have to get over this thing about being in hock to the bond markets”. There’s only one way to do that. Stop borrowing so much. There are signs Chancellor John Healey gets it. He warned the Labour Party conference that the money isn’t there. Delegates didn’t want to hear. Britain is now living on borrowed time.

Across the left, phoney economists claim we should stop worrying about debt. Borrowing is fine so long as the money is invested. This is delusional. All they want is an excuse to spend even more, and pass the bill onto our children.

Healey’s Budget on Wednesday should focus on cutting spending, growing the economy and getting debt down. If he does that, gilt yields may fall. The Labour Party won’t like it, but fiscal discipline is no longer a luxury. It’s a matter of survival.

When Louis XVI was mired in debt, the French Revolution followed. The English Civil War could have been avoided if a heavily indebted King Charles I hadn’t kept tapping up Parliament for more cash.

When debt builds, heads roll. Healey needs to get on top of our debt pile, fast. Britain isn’t quite as profligate as the US and France. We need to keep it that way.