MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

PM Starmer, “paying reparations for slave trade, not in the Commonwealth agenda”

Sir Hilary Beckles, “It is our intention to persist with this strategy of calling for a summit to work through what a reparatory justice model ought to look like”

“Just to be clear, reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting. Technically, the (UK) Government's position on this has not changed. We do not pay reparations,” said Downing Street official spokesperson, when asked what PM Keir Starmer's view on paying reparations for Britain's involvement in the slave trade was.

Calls from campaigners for compensation payments to be made to the countries affected by the slave trade have increased ahead of next week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHoGM) in Samoa.

Sir Hilary Beckles, the chairman of the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission, said: “It is our intention to persist with this strategy of calling for a summit to work through what a reparatory justice model ought to look like in the case of the Caribbean.“
Estimates have put the potential British liabilities at around £200 billion.

”The Prime Minister is attending the summit in Samoa to discuss the shared challenges and opportunities faced by the Commonwealth, including driving growth across our economies,.” pointed out Downing spokesperson.

However the three candidates vying to be named the next secretary-general of the 56-nation Commonwealth have signaled support for reparations.

The leadership vote between Shirley Botchwey of Ghana, Joshua Setipa of Lesotho and Mamadou Tangara of Gambia will take place at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) from October 21.

Questions surrounding Britain’s role in the slave trade, which saw more than 15 million people trafficked over the course of 400 years, resurfaced after footage emerged of Foreign Secretary David Lammy calling for the country to pay reparations.

“I'm afraid as Caribbean people we are not going to forget our history - we don't just want to hear an apology, we want reparation,” Mr Lammy can be heard saying in the clip from 2018.

But now “he speaks on behalf of the Labour Government and this is a new Labour Government,” said Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, ....”that was David Lammy long before he became Foreign Secretary.

Labor's policy is in line with the previous Conservative government, who vehemently rejected calls for Britain to pay for its role in slavery.