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ALMOST 90 per cent of a T&A poll voted against the removal of the Sir Robert Peel statue in Bradford with a counter-petition also started.

A fierce debate has been sparked across the country, and now in Bradford, after anti-racism protests moved their gaze towards monuments and statues depicting controversial historic figures.

It comes following the death of George Floyd in the US, after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Two slave trader statues were pulled down in recent days and now those depicting Sir Robert Peel are being called into question.

One of those statues sits in Peel Park (named after him as well), in Undercliffe, and a petition was started yesterday by Shumona Hussain to remove the monument and rename the park.

Read more about that here..

But, a T&A poll on that story showed that 89 per cent of the 749 people who responded are against both of those ideas.

A counter-petition has since been started too.

The campaign was set-up by Jayden Raw on change.org.

It states: "Robert Peel had no direct involvement with the slave trade, his father, also Robert Peel did.

"The one in question here created the metropolitan police force and was one of our greatest Prime Ministers, we need to respect him and honour him, not take down his statues.

"His wealth may have derived and benefited from the slave trade, this is no reason to tear down our history.

"Lots of great iconic people played a part in the slave trade, including all religions and races, so if we wanted to remove everything that was a reminder there would be nothing left in the world.

"This is our history and our children deserve to know about it and be able to see it."

The petition has been signed by 47 people so far, while the campaign to remove the statue has 86 signatures, at the time of writing.

Since then, the counter-petition has shot up over 1,000 signatures, with 119 now on the original campaign to remove the statue.

Sir Robert Peel (the second baronet) was a Bury-born politician and two-time Prime Minister

He is often confused with his father (the first baronet), who shared the same name as his son.

The first baronet benefited from the slave trade and raised a petition in opposition to the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill which he saw as a threat to the cotton industry and merchants’ trade interests.

The second baronet, who is the figure depicted in statues across the country, had no direct link with the slave trade.

But there is controversy surrounding the issue that the Peels’ wealth and industrial empire was built on the labour of enslaved and oppressed peoples.

A number of people have also responded on Facebook in opposition to the petition to remove Sir Robert Peel's statue.

Annser Nawaz-Hussain said: "One thing we must all remember is, history can not be erased or deleted.

"The only thing we can do going forward is try and change the present and future for the better.

"Personally I think this is going too far, where do we draw the line?"

Zoë Hogan-Stead said: "No. If it were a statue of his father I would be in full agreement however, it is not.

"The second baronet had no direct links to the slave trade."

Chris Holland said: "This is nonsense. History is history. You can't change it, only learn from it.

"Pulling down statues isn't the answer.

"We can't judge the actions of the past by current standards.

"Whilst aspects of Britain's cololionism were made, it also brought many benefits for us and other countries - not least sound government and judicial systems.

"Imperialism was commonplace back in the day and from which our modern society emerged.

"Yes, there were victims and slavery was one of the worst aspects, as should be widely acknowledged, but focusing on vandalising or removing statues is not the way forward."

There are others who have argued for the middle-ground, explaining history is fluid and that change is inevitable.

Stewart Ellinson said: "Statues come and go - they don't stand for all time and we often rename things and change what and where things are displayed.

"This is normal and positive; we shouldn't assume history is 'finished'.

"Why do we have a statue and a park named after the second baronet Sir Robert Peel?

"Chiefly because of his part in the 'repeal of the corn laws' - Bradford (as a trade-based town then) saw this as an important stimulus to trade.

"However, 150 years on, we're a different country with different values and those values may not chime with a statue of Peel.

"Personally, I don't think the time is right for this action, but I would never rule it out and it's entirely possible that in ten, twenty, or fifty years we'll have a better - or more appropriate - person to have a statue and a park named after them."

Meanwhile, Jacky Howe suggested adding a plaque alongside the statue with "updated, honest and historically correct information", rather than tearing it down.

She said: "Doubt anyone has a totally innocent background, so their good deeds shouldn’t get overlooked."

But there are those who back the campaign.

Haaris Qureshi said: "I grew up next door to this park, it was pretty much my back yard.

"And I fully support tearing down the statue and renaming it to someone who has a much closer tie to the diversity which embodies Bradford culture".

Mick Gallagher said: "Yes and rename it after the WPC (Woman Police Constable) that lost her life protecting Bradford."