Labour has quietly empowered activist councils to rename streets linked to slavery and the Empire without local consent. The Telegraph has the story.
The proposals were brought forward by the last Tory government to stop local authorities caving into campaigns by pressure groups.
Councils faced a slew of calls to rename streets linked to slave owners and the Empire following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Online campaigns led local authorities across the country to announce that they were reviewing all such road names in their area.
Michael Gove, the then Local Communities Secretary, responded with plans that would have made councils hold a referendum to change a street name. Under the proposals, published in 2022, they would have needed to secure support from two thirds of residents on a road to go ahead with renaming.
The revelation that Ms. Rayner has dropped the plans was contained in a report by the Policy Exchange think tank.
Lara Brown, its author, said: “The Labour Government has quietly dropped legislation which would have prevented activist councils from renaming streets over the heads of local residents.
“They claim they wish to end the culture wars, and yet they are pursuing the politics of division, prioritising a minority of campaigners over the views of the public.
“Policy Exchange’s History Matters Compendium shows that action continues to be taken widely and quickly to reframe how the past is presented.”
The decision will provide councils with fresh licence to rename streets that are seen as controversial because of their links to the Empire.
It will also mean that no fixed definition is established for what constitutes the “necessary support” councils must demonstrate to change road names.
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