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A campaign has been launched to remove the name of former UK prime minister William Gladstone from a halls of residence building.

A poll, launched by University of Liverpool student Aisha Raithatha, says Gladstone's name should be removed due to his association with slave traders.

The campaign has already received 60 "likes" online, meaning it will be debated by the Liverpool Student Guild.

Ms Raithatha says an upcoming redevelopment of a student halls sites provides the university with an opportunity to rename the building after an alumnus such as poet Carol Ann Duffy or journalist Jon Snow.

She said: "William Gladstone is known to have fought for reparations for slave traders like his father during the abolition of the trade, as well as not being in favour of the abolition.

"We believe that someone with this controversial background should not have a university hall named after them, especially in a city where we try hard not to forget the atrocities that took place on our docks.”

Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Liverpool, told the Liverpool Echo the debate was tokenistic and that Gladstone was “a worthy recipient of honours".

"His government laid the basis of the welfare state, widened who could vote and did so many things we take for granted in this country," he said.

"We should be incredibly proud of him. Gladstone was without doubt an abolitionist – precisely what he argued to get it through is not for me to doubt.”

The campaign is the latest in a string of movements which have seen students calling for universities to remove historical monuments to colonialists and slavery sympathisers.

In 2015, Oxford University students demanded a statue dedicated to Cecil Rhodes - who colonised Zimbabwe - be removed.