BOLTON Town Hall will be lit up red, white and blue as the bells chime at 11pm on January 31 to celebrate Brexit.

The union flag will fly from all civic buildings and flag poles across the borough to mark the UK's departure from the European Union.

The colours of the union flag will also be displayed on the town hall in Victoria Square.

Council leader David Greenhalgh revealed that the local authority is currently making plans to mark the historic moment at a meeting last night.

He said: “We are in talks to absolutely make sure that this historic moment is marked. Not, I think it’s worth pointing out, in any form that could be seen as gloating, but to celebrate a historic moment for this country and a moment of optimism and pride in our nation and pride in our flag as we move forward into a new historic era."

Cllr Greenhalgh made the announcement as he responded to a question from the UKIP group leader at a full council meeting.

It came just nine days before the UK is due to leave the European Union and enter a transition period.

Cllr Hornby said that his question had been a "long time coming" but it was "here at last".

He said: “In the European referendum, the people of Bolton voted to leave the European Union – the actual vote was 58.3 per cent of Bolton voted to leave. Will the leader of the council to the flying of the union flag over the town hall and all civic buildings across the borough on January 31 to celebrate us leaving the European Union and can he give us an assurance that on January 31, the town hall bell under the clock will chime, signalling we have left the European Union?”

The council leader described the proposal as a "good idea" and thanked Cllr Hornby for raising a "very poignant point".

He said: "We will fly the union flag above the town hall as we will do above the library and, not only civic buildings, but civic flag poles across the borough to include Westhoughton, Horwich, Blackrod, Farnworth and Kearsley – hence the civic flag pole.

"And we will go a little bit further. We will make sure that the union colours of red, white and blue are displayed on the front of the town hall on the evening itself.

"As regard to bell, we will ring a bell. We are in negotiation with what that actually means with the current structural issues that we have at the front of the town hall and also with the limited array of bells that we have on offer. We don't want it to simply sound at 11 with an extra chime that it sounds like it’s 12 o'clock."