Sir Keir Starmer backs calls for Nike to scrap new England football

Sir Keir Starmer has backed criticism of Nike for changing the cross of St George on the back of the new England kit.

The Labour leader called on the sports manufacturer to switch the multicolour flag back to the original one.

His comments come after a social media storm over the change, with calls on X to boycott the US sports manufacturer.

The row started after Nike posted pictures online of the new England kit which will be used for this summer’s Euro 24 tournament.

While some pictures showed off the ‘away’ kit’s new colour purple, alongside the classic ‘home’ white jersey, one of the X posts showed a new motif featuring a purple, blue, black and red cross on the back of the shirt, which was captioned: “A playful update to the flag of St George appears on the collar to unite and inspire.”

Previously, shirts have often featured the red and white of the St George’s flag.

Politics latest: London terror survivor attacks Sunak’s ‘abysmal’ response

Thousands of X users have reacted to the new kit, the vast majority negatively, with many attacking it for being unnecessary or “disrespectful”. Some accused Nike of being “woke”, and many urged people not to buy Nike products.

Sir Keir joined in the criticism when asked by The Sun if it was “wrong” to change the colours.

“Yeah, I think it was,” he said.

“As you know, I’m a big football fan. I go to England games – men’s and women’s games – and the flag is used by everybody.

“It is a unifier, it doesn’t need to be changed, we just need to be proud of it – so, I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.”

He went on: “I’m not even sure they can properly explain why they thought…