Marvin Rees, mayor of Bristol: 'Symbolic acts should be linked to change'

The toppling of slave trader Edward Colston's statue provoked conversations on race - now policy change needs to happen too, says Bristol's mayor

Back in June, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters toppled the statue of Edward Colston from its plinth in Bristol and threw it off a quayside where the slave trader's ships used to dock.

More than six months on, the mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, describes it as an iconic moment". But not a simple one. I think we need to be careful with it," said Rees. The danger is that iconic moments of great symbolic value occupy the space that should be filled by substantial action.