Overview
- UKIP filed applications on 9 January to replace its pound-sign logo in Great Britain and Northern Ireland with a crest showing a cross pattée before a spear and shield alongside the slogan “UKIP: The New Right.”
- Images from the Electoral Commission website prompted social media users and commentators to liken the proposed cross to the Iron Cross used in Prussian and Nazi-era Germany.
- Citing the Anti-Defamation League, reports noted the Iron Cross and similar imagery are identified as hate symbols in modern extremist contexts.
- UKIP rejected the Nazi comparison, describing the device as Christian symbolism and referencing the Victoria Cross and parliamentary imagery while calling the allegations offensive and “Christophobic.”
- The party says the emblem reflects a push to place Christianity at the heart of government, and it has appeared on flags at UKIP events even as formal approval remains outstanding.