Sunderland's new Reform UK council leader has revealed ambitions for the city to host a festival celebrating St George's Day.

Councillor Chris Eynon, who was formally appointed as Sunderland City Council's leader in May, confirmed the local authority is exploring the feasibility of supporting an event on April 23 next year.

The council leader said England's national day had “never been properly celebrated” and that the new Reform UK Group wanted to “make sure” the date was marked and celebrated locally.

Cllr Eynon stressed the potential event was in its very early feasibility stages, with no details revealed around specific activities or locations, but noted it would be “an excellent thing to do”.

Sunderland City Council leader Cllr Chris Eynon.

placeholder image — Sunderland City Council leader Cllr Chris Eynon.

Referencing Reform UK’s May triumph in Sunderland, he said: “We got around 101,000 votes and I think a lot of people would like that.

“St David’s Day in Cardiff every year is always a big one as is July 12 in Northern Ireland and Burns Night in Scotland.

“So we think why not have a city centre or a kind of city-wide thing for St George’s Day for example?

“That’s something that I think we’re missing a trick on.”

The Cross of St George outside Sunderland City Hall.

Reform UK council leader Cllr Eynon said potential names for the event included the Sunderland St George's Day Festival.

He confirmed that work was taking place with the council's events team on a “feasibility study” to explore what the event could look like and suggested the city's new multi-million pound Culture House development at Keel Square could be included.

Cllr Eynon added the council had a dedicated cabinet member for culture to look at the finer details of the potential festival.

The council leader added: “It's early minuta at the moment, calling it a nucleus is an understatement, it’s an idea we have for something like that.

“We think let’s do something in April, let’s bring more people to the local city centre and commerce and we will go from there."

Back in May, the new Reform UK administration announced the England flag would “fly outside Sunderland City Hall 365 days a year” and said the decision followed feedback from residents.

The social media post added that the St George's flag is “our national flag” and “represents our country, our history, and the people Sunderland City Council serves”.