CAMPAIGN group the EU Flag Mafia have taken responsibility for spraying anti-Brexit slogans in the city, but insist they are patriots not vandals.

Around 40 blue and pink signs saying #StopBrexit and #BinBrexit were plastered from the Cross and up the High Street in the early hours of Friday last week.

EU flags were also displayed outside the cathedral and Wetherspoon-owned pubs The Cross and Postal Order whose founder Tim Martin has often voiced his support for Brexit.

The Edward Elgar statue in Cathedral Square was also draped in a flag, while a ‘Get ready to stop Brexit’ banner was hung on a flyover bridge in Fernhill Heath.

“None of our actions caused criminal damage, nor were illegal,” the group said via a letter to us. “We are fed up at being accused of undermining our country, while our government seems perfectly capable of doing that itself and ignoring nearly 50 per cent of those who voted.

“The mendacious promises that were made during the referendum campaign cannot be delivered. An arrangement that has been arrived at is neither desirable nor beneficial.”

They went on to say: “The latest report from the OBR puts the refund from leaving the EU at a cost of thirty billion GBP per year.

“There will be no Brexit benefit and the losses will never be made back.”

They said the Tories have divided the country in trying to resolve internal party squabbling.

“We understand the reasons why people voted to leave and sympathise.

“None of these reasons were attributable to the actions of the EU,” they added.

“The EU was founded on peace. Please read the opening paragraph of the Schuman Declaration.

“The EU has brought immeasurable benefit to the UK in social, cultural and economic areas.

“These areas are interrelated and heavily influenced by one another, a strong economy is a prerequisite in order to fund things like public services.

“Strangely, Worcester is currently suffering a reduction in public services, again not caused by the EU.”