Students at the University of Cambridge have voted to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS) over its alleged failure to “campaign for Palestine” and support student pro-Palestinian protesters.

The motion to end the SU’s membership from the NUS was called by its trustee board and comes after widespread criticism of the national umbrella body over allegations that the NUS has failed to support pro-Palestinian student protests and encampments.

This comes after more student groups and union officers in 55 universities signed an open letter calling on the NUS to “take a stand on Gaza or face mass disaffiliation”. In response, the NUS demanded that student union officers remove their signatures from the letter or be banned from NUS events.

Olivia Ledger, vice president of the Cambridge SU, told the Canary that “we have had seven student encampments, and five High Court injunctions levelled against our students, with no support from the NUS”.

She added: “They have failed to defend students faced with disciplinaries for protesting, failed to act on growing Islamophobia, and offer poor value for money and minimal national campaigning impact.”