'Offensive' Empire honours titles must go, says Labour's Kate Green

Honours titles associated with the British Empire are "offensive and divisive" and should be rebranded, a senior Labour MP has told the BBC.

Kate Green, who got an OBE in 2005, told the Political Thinking podcast it gave people "huge pleasure" to have their achievements recognised.

But the shadow education secretary said honours were hierarchical and the link to Empire was "hurtful to people".

"You can't justify that branding," she told host Nick Robinson.

But the Conservatives said "abandoning" the current honours system would amount to "cultural and historic vandalism".

Orders of the British Empire - the CBE, OBE and MBE - were first awarded during World War One to recognise the contribution of civilians to the war effort and the actions of service personnel in support positions.

They are now awarded for outstanding achievements in different fields at either a national or local level.

The British Empire Medal, awarded for significant community service, was revived in 2012, having been scrapped in 1993.

Some Labour MPs have previous called for the word "empire" to be replaced by "excellence" in honours awarded by the Queen.

Ms Green told the BBC's Nick Robinson she had thought hard before accepting an OBE for services to charity and welfare for her work in helping children as chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group and before that as director of the National Council for One Parent Families.

She said she decided to take the honour, which she received five years before she entered Parliament in 2010, because it "thrilled" her father.

While honours were a valuable way of celebrating people's contributions to their community or country, she added, their association with the economic and racial injustices of the British Empire was not defensible.

"It's really the wrong language. It's divisive, it's offensive and hurtful to people.

"One of the things I've been looking at a lot in recent weeks is the black curriculum campaign and decolonising our history and the whole curriculum. You can't excuse or justify that branding."

She said issues with the way in which honours were handed out ran "deeper" than just the titles and a "lot more reform was needed" of the secretive system.

Members of the public can nominate people for honours, but critics say the committees that make the final decisions are not representative of society as a whole and awards for political service make a mockery of the system.

Boris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron and Tony Blair have all been criticised for using the honours system to reward political allies and people who have give money to their parties.

"I know many efforts have been made to democratise and open up that honours system but it's still pretty hierarchical of who gets what," she said.

Conservative Party co-chairwoman Amanda Milling said: "The names given to our national honours reflect this country's history and traditions.

"We should not abandon them, just as we shouldn't rename the Victoria Line, the Royal Albert Hall or the Imperial War Museum, or tear down the countless public monuments, statues and landmarks that tell the story of our United Kingdom.

"To do so would be an act of cultural and historic vandalism."