British PM responds to call for slave trade reparations

The issue is not on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Commonwealth summit agenda, according to his spokesperson

Britain will not raise the issue of reparations transatlantic slavery at a meeting of Commonwealth nations this week, according to a Reuters report on Monday.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) kicked off in Samoa on Monday. It brings together leaders and officials from 56 countries, most of them former British colonies. The organization is set to choose a new secretary-general during the event.

According to the report, both British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles will be present at the meeting. However, a spokesperson for Starmer said on Monday that reparations were not on the prime minister’s agenda.

“We do not pay reparations,” the spokesperson said, adding “The position on an apology remains the same. We won’t be offering an apology at CHOGM.”

The spokesperson also noted they would “continue to engage with partners on these issues.” 

In April 2023, Starmer’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak publicly declined to apologize or offer reparations for the slave trade, saying that “trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward and is not something we will focus our energies on.” 

The UK has for years faced growing demands to pay reparations for its role in the slaveholding practices. The British Empire traded an estimated 3.1 million Africans, of whom 2.7 million were sent to colonies in the Caribbean, North and South America, and other places over a period of 150 years. The slave trade was abolished by Britain’s Parliament in 1807.

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According to research conducted by economic consulting firm Brattle Group Report and published by the University of the West Indies in 2023, the UK alone would be on the hook for a sum of $24 trillion as reparations for transatlantic slavery in 14 countries. Of that sum, about $9.6 trillion would be due to Jamaica.

Meanwhile, sources told Reuters that the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which comprises 15 member states, are poised to raise the issue of reparations at the Commonwealth meeting.

In July, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley unveiled a decision by Caricom to “very forcefully” speak on reparations during CHOGM in Samoa.

UN judge Patrick Robinson said in August 2023 that the UK will no longer be able to ignore the growing calls for reparation for transatlantic slavery, stressing that compensation “is required by history and it is required by law.”