Keep out of Bristol’s slaver street names debate, ministers are told

The city fears its discussion on slave owner Edward Colston is being dragged into a divisive national culture war'

A history commission set up by Bristol's mayor after the toppling of the Edward Colston statue has urged ministers to stay out of debates on the future of dozens of city streets named after slave traders.

Prof Tim Cole, the commission's chair, said a new audit by Bristol city council had identified a handful of streets named after Colston, whose company enslaved at least 80,000 Africans, and dozens more streets named after other slave traders. It should be up to people who live on those streets to decide - it is an uber-local issue," he said. If a bunch of people who live on Colston Avenue want to change the name of their street they should be empowered to do so."