This petition was accepted in good faith and in the interests of promoting political engagement through the petitions site. We have accepted many thousands of petitions on a range of topics which take issue with government policy and have no problems in engaging in mature political debate. Since the acceptance, however, it has come to our attention that a number of groups are linking to this petition on the web and promoting it in a provocative way.

We view this as wholly against the spirit of the ePetitions project in that it is being used to generate division rather than debate. We have therefore taken the rare step of taking the petition down and we will not respond to the issue beyond this email.

To answer the original question raised, there are many statues in London which celebrate international and commonwealth figures. London is an international city and one of the greatest and most diverse cities in the world. The UK government is proud to have the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament square. It stands across from Winston Churchill, who led us in the defeat of fascism, and near to Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator. Nelson Mandela is recognised around the world as a great liberator of people.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said at the unveiling of the statue: 'Allowing his statue to be placed in a prominent position in one of the world's most famous squares, facing the British Parliament, underlines Mandela's special relationship with Britain and London through the long years of struggle against apartheid, and reflects his significance as a world statesman.'

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown said on the day of the unveiling: '...from this day forward, this statue will stand here, in sight of this ancient forum of democracy, to commemorate and celebrate for the ages triumph in the greatest of causes and the most inspiring and greatest leader of our generation - and one of the most courageous and best-loved men of all time.

And let us salute today not just the greatness of Nelson Mandela but the goodness of the man too, of a life where as the poet said, "he rose above the greatest without arrogance and he stooped to help the weakest without condescension".

This statue is a beacon of hope that sends round the world the most powerful of messages that "no injustice can last forever"

Mandela statue an insult to Britain.
It must GO and the BPP will carry on the campaign for its removal!
We plan a January 2008 demonstration in the Square against the statue - watch out for further news!