Petition · past parliament
To remove all reference to empire in the UK honours system eg MBE, OBE etc
Rejected
11 signatures
What the petition asks
For new recipients the honour currently represented by the award Member / Order / Commander of the British Empire, should be changed to a nomenclature that better represents the beliefs, aspirations and loyalties of the current diverse UK population.
Firstly the British Empire no longer exists.
Secondly many people find the concept of empire and the memory of what the counties of the empire suffered deeply offensive.
Thirdly if the honour is to have any meaning today it should embody current concepts and values that unite the citizens of this country
Secondly many people find the concept of empire and the memory of what the counties of the empire suffered deeply offensive.
Thirdly if the honour is to have any meaning today it should embody current concepts and values that unite the citizens of this country
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: Reform the UK honours system to remove references to Empire
Timeline
| 13 Jun 2020 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 27 Jul 2020 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
11
Status
Rejected
Rejected
27 Jul 2020
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.