Thousands of people will celebrate St George's Day across England and around the world today, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer issuing a rallying cry to "be proud of our national identity".

Nottingham is expected to display the largest St George's flag in the heart of the city, alongside a celebration hosted by the Royal Society of St George Radford Branch event at Nottinghamshire’s oldest pub, the Ye Olde Salutation Inn.

The Welsh villages of Broughton & Saltney could also be marking St George's Day in style, with the tiny hamlets being named as the most English part of the UK in the 2021 Census.

Starmer kicked off St George's Day celebrations last night, praising contemporary and classical cultural English icons, as well as national cuisines such as Melton Mowbray pork pies and Lancashire Eccles cakes.

However, while the majority of people will be celebrating today, the Church of England has put back this year's feast day to Monday, April 28, due to a ruling that no saint's day can take place between Palm Sunday and the Second Sunday of Easter inclusive.

Alongside being the patron saint of England, St George is also celebrated in Albania, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Castile and León, Catalonia, Alcoi, Aragon, Genoa, and Rio de Janeiro.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick

The Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has said that English people should "prize our heritage" in his St George's Day message for GB News members.

He said: "I am deeply proud to be both English and British. My upbringing was in provincial England and being English is important to me. It is my home.

"That’s why I have always celebrated St George’s Day. I remember my parents, imbued with what you could call an old-fashioned working-class patriotism, used to take me to the St George’s Day parades in Black Country towns like Dudley. They were replete with flags, knights on horses and a few pints in pub gardens."

The Prime Minister used his St George's Day Downing Street address to "wrench the flag" from those who wish to "divide" us.

Starmer said: "It was the aftermath of the riots that showed what it means to be English. It marked the coming together of a country. People who got together the morning after, all across Britain with shovels, brooms, and brushes, to clean up their communities.

"Rebuilding walls, repairing damage and it’s in that spirit that we reclaim our flag and that was incredibly uplifting to go from rioting to people coming out to do what they could for our country.

"So that’s what we must do for our country, for English decency, honour and fairness. Wrench it out of the hands of those who want to divide this nation and reclaim it for good."