A STOURBRIDGE dad has defended his daughter's design which inspired the popular Black Country flag after it was reportedly branded racist.

Schoolgirl Gracie Sheppard's eye-catching red, white and black design was chosen in a public vote five years ago and it was quickly adopted as the official Black Country flag.

It has become the second highest selling flag in the UK and been flown all over the world.

But - as Black Country folk celebrated the region at the start of a month of festivities - social media posters responded in a frenzy to reports the flag had been described as racist by a Midlands MP.

Recently elected Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West, Eleanor Smith, denies making such claims and has refuted calling for it to be scrapped in a recent press interview.

She said in a statement she had merely felt "uneasy" about the image becoming the brand for the Black Country - "on the grounds that it associates the Black Country with heritage industries rather than modern ones" and she said constituents had raised concerns about the flag and the image of a chain because of their historical use in the slave trade.

However - pinned to the top of the MP's Facebook page this week was a post by Wolverhampton Momentum grassroots network calling for "the withdrawal of the flag" and for a "committee representative of the diversity of the Black Country to be established...to explore a more appropriate symbol for our times".

Many politicians took to Facebook to voice outrage that the flag was causing such controversy and Gracie's dad Dave Sheppard was also prompted to speak out and defend his daughter's design which was inspired by the American Consul to Birmingham Elihu Burrit who described the region as “black by day and red by night”.

Stourbridge News:

Mr Sheppard wrote on his Facebook page that Gracie, (pictured above - aged 12 with the former Mayor of Dudley - Councillor Melvyn Mottram), "took considerable care to research our area before submitting her flag design" and since winning the public competition he said she has "regularly been a softly spoken ambassador for the region and the flag".

He said he felt compelled as a parent to respond as commenters had speculated on Gracie's "motivations, naivety, integrity, education and ethics" and he thanked the "hundreds of strangers who have posted online messages of support for her during the last few harrowing days".

Former leader of Dudley Council, councillor Pete Lowe, was among politicians defending the flag.

On his Facebook page he said: "I love the flag, the design and its history. The 'black by day, red by night' imagery is perfect, the chains depicting our history of chain-making, the proud dispute of the chain-makers of Cradley and the glass cone bang centre."

He added: "The flag has been to Glastonbury, Mount Everest, flew longer in the World Cup in Brazil than the England football team did...the flag is popular and loved. Its success is that it is not a political flag, it is a community flag."

While Stourbridge MP Margot James and Dudley South MP Mike Wood took to the roof of Parliament to fly the Black Country flag in honour of the Black Country Festival and Ms James said on Facebook "We are proud of our Black Country heritage, especially the chain-making industry which flourished in Cradley Heath at the start of the 20th century."

And she added: "Eleanor Smith should visit the museum of chain-making in Mushroom Green rather than set herself apart from this celebration."