It is an oversight that has united the English, Welsh and Scottish in annoyance whenever they want to cheer on their football team or express their national allegiance: the absence of home nation emoji on their mobile phones.

The cartoon pictographs, used to inject fun and colour into text messages, offer hundreds of different “flag emoji” from Ascension Island (population 880) to the Vatican City, but so far British smartphone owners have had to make do with just the Union Jack.

But the international consortium that regulates the introduction of new emoji has now suggested that the three countries could get their own flag next year.

The lack of home nation flags is often lamented on social media, and searches for English, Scottish and Welsh emoji are consistently high. Interest in the icons peaked during this summer’s European football championships, when Welsh players such as Gareth Bale resorted to the “dragon” emoji and England’s to using the lion symbol.