People who cause criminal damage to memorials in the UK will face jail terms of up to 10 years under a new bill being discussed in the British Parliament. Currently, the maximum sentence for such offences is three months if the value of the damage is less than £5,000 ($6,941), according to the Sentencing Council. But the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill, which was published on Tuesday, increases the maximum penalty for criminal damage to a memorial from three months to 10 years, the government said in a statement. The issue of how Britain should deal with the legacies of its past, especially its role in slavery and colonialism, has been the subject of heated debate since the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century merchant, was toppled by Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in Bristol in June 2020. During protests last summer sparked by the death of George Floyd …