Britain will not be making ‘cash payments’ to Caribbean nations demanding trillions of pounds in slavery reparations, David Lammy said today.
The Foreign Secretary was put on the spot by MPs today over the demand for compensation made by a slew of Commonwealth leaders last month.
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) the UK failed to keep language on reparations out of a joint statement signed by attending nations.
In its official communique the leaders agreed ‘the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity’.
Mr Lammy clashed with Tory MP Apha Brandreth today at the Foreign Affairs Committee over what had happened.
He told her that the Caribbean nations were interested in investment in technology, climate finance, education and health, adding: ‘These are areas where we absolutely, in terms of the future, would intend to be in dialogue with the Caribbean … that was the nature of the conversation.
‘There was no discussion about reparation and money and the Prime Minister and I were absolutely clear that we will not be making cash transfers and payments to the Caribbean.’
The Foreign Secretary was put on the spot by MPs today over the demand for compensation made by a slew of Commonwealth leaders last month.
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Samoa leaders stopped short of an overt call for reparations. But in its official communique the leaders agreed ‘ the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity’.
Mr Lammy clashed with Tory MP Apha Brandreth today over what had happened at Chogm.
He said that the phrase ‘reparations’ was not in the communique from the summit. The phrase reparatory justice was in the communique.
‘There’s a caricature about sending cash and I have rejected that caricature,’ he added.
Sir Keir urged Commonwealth nations to ‘look forward, not back’ as he attempts to stave off a row over slavery reparations at Chogm.
The Prime Minister confronted calls for Britain to pay financial reparations for its historical part in the slave trade, but admitted he understood the ‘strength of feeling’ over the issue.
He called on the countries to work together ‘to make sure the future is not in the shadow of the past, but is illuminated by it’.
The communique said: ‘Heads, noting calls for discussions on reparatory justice with regard to the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement, and recognising the importance of this matter to member states of the Commonwealth, the majority of which share common historical experiences in relation to this abhorrent trade, chattel enslavement, the debilitation and dispossession of Indigenous People, indentureship, colonialism, blackbirding and their enduring effects, agreed that the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity.
‘Heads further agreed to continue playing an active role in bringing about such inclusive conversations addressing these harms, paying special attention to women and girls, who suffered disproportionately from these appalling tragedies in the history of humanity.’
Last year a leading international judge claimed Britain owes almost £19trillion in reparations for its role in the international slave trade, and even that might be an ‘underestimation’,
Patrick Robinson, who sits in International Criminal Court, claimed that countries behind the centuries of atrocities were ‘obliged to pay’ and accused politicians like then PM Rishi Sunak of burying their heads in the sand.
Speaking to Guardian, Mr Robinson did not rule out former colonial states trying to take legal action, but suggested a diplomatic solution was more likely.
Advertisement
