Petition · past parliament

Remove all statues of slave-traders in the UK.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

The statues of slave traders should be removed. They may be kept in museums for historical reference but should not be in public areas of cities/towns. To remember the history, instead of these statues, there should be education of Britain's history with the slave trade in the school curriculum.
Slave-traders are not people that should be glorified or celebrated. Having statues of them all over the country is abhorrent and they must be removed as all the wealth they may have accumulated would have been mostly due to the slave trade.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

Decisions about individual historical monuments, statues, plaques and street names are a matter for the local authority in which they are located and private landowners, not the UK Government or Parliament.

If you want to raise concerns about a particular historical monument or statue you should contact your local authority about this.

The Local Government Association has published an advice note to help councils work to ensure all sections of the community feel heard by decision-makers and each other: https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/community-safety/statues

We have published the following petitions, which you might like to sign:

Encourage and support the removal of memorials that glorify the slave trade: Encourage and support the removal of memorials that glorify the slave trade

Create an advisory board to review public statues and decide on their removal: Create an advisory board to review public statues and decide on their removal

Timeline

8 Jun 2020 Petition opened for signatures
19 Jun 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 19 Jun 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.