Starmer confronts slavery reparations calls in address to Commonwealth leaders
Sir Keir Starmer has confronted calls for the UK to pay reparations for its historical part in the slave trade while surrounded by Commonwealth leaders.
Speaking at an executive session of a Commonwealth summit in Samoa, the Prime Minister said it was important to acknowledge a “hard” shared history, and that he understood the “strength of feeling” about reparations.
Flanked by leaders from Uganda and Tanzania, Sir Keir said he wanted to work “together to make sure the future is not in the shadow of the past”, and promised to host a UK-Caribbean forum with leaders of the nations most impacted by slavery’s legacy.
“Not on the table”
The Prime Minister has insisted reparations are not on the table for the Commonwealth summit, even as leaders from Caribbean and African member states have called for discussions on the issue.
The UK has conceded that the issue of reparations could be included in a document due to be signed off at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this week.
Sources accept that there could be a reference to reparatory justice in the communique, but officials stressed that this would not necessarily mean any change in the UK’s policy position.
Speaking at the executive session alongside other leaders, Sir Keir said: “We must also acknowledge our shared history – especially when it’s hard.
“I understand the strength of feeling here and that there are some calls to face up to the harms and injustices of the past through reparatory justice.”
The Prime Minister stressed the “most effective way to maintain a spirit of respect and dignity is by working together to make sure the future is not in the shadow of the past, but is illuminated by it”.
He announced Britain will host a UK-Caribbean forum in 2025, “focused on looking forward, not back”.
Climate resilience, education, trade and growth would be on its agenda he said.
Throughout his time in Samoa, Sir Keir has met with leaders from across the Commonwealth, including his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
But a meeting between the Prime Minister and Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo did not go ahead as expected.
They were instead expected to speak at a dinner hosted by the King, or at the final meeting between Commonwealth leaders on the summit’s final day.
Discussion
The Ghanaian delegation had not planned to raise the topic of reparations at the meeting with Sir Keir, it is understood, but is keen to start a discussion on the matter.
Sir Keir did however meet with the President of Guyana Irfaan Ali – another supporter of reparations – though the matter was not raised as they shook hands in front of the media.
While the Prime Minister’s stance on reparations remains unchanged, he has said that this generation should have a conversation about the history of slavery.
He told the BBC: “We should look at what are today’s challenges in this group of countries represented here today.
“And in the discussions I’ve already had before I came here, and since I’ve been here, it’s very clear to me that the major challenges are resilience in the face of climate challenges and also the question of how we improve trade between our countries.”
Asked if he thinks this generation can be held responsible for the actions of their forebears, Sir Keir replied: “I think our generation can say the slave trade and practice was abhorrent, and we should, you know, we talk about our history. We can’t change our history, but we should certainly talk about our history.”
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I am reading a book on East African history which describes Britain’s role in suppressing the slave trade including many deaths in the Royal Navy due to battles with slavers. The main slavers were Arabs, the main slave port was Zanzibar (not a part of the British Empire) but part of the Great Oman Empire. And much of the slave trade went to the USA. Will Briain be commended for its role in stopping slavery – or paid for its role in stopping slavery? Obviously not as it does not fit the woke agenda. Will Oman be held accountable for… Read more »
Hi Jack, I put some info up on Ben’s opinion piece for you…thanks for re-post
Sophistry, pure sophistry…is this the work of the Man from Macroom…!
I don’t doubt Clark of Kent will fit very comfortably in Trump’s pocket…
Really needs to approach this from a view that the discussion can lead somewhere and not block it.
The “shared history” is a terrible trope, the history we forced on millions. Then forced many more decades of suffering with people thinking “we stopped it”. Ask Louisa Calderon.
Reparations went to the slave owners and not the people that had been objected to this terrible issue.
Y natur ddynol syrthiedig yw’r broblem. Ac rydym i gyd yn euog o hynny. Roedd nifer yn gwerthu eu pobl eu hunain i gaethwasiaeth.
Yn hollol. Inter tribal hostilities were a big component of the “sourcing” end of the slave trade shipping Africans across the Atlantic. Maybe some reparations are justified but at the same time, a whole raft of Arab, Turk, North African and West African leaders will have to show their willingness to be held accountable alongside the usual cluster of white bogey men. That is not likely to happen as many of the post colonial nations of Africa and Asia have deplorable records of human rights crimes including modern slavery and genocide. Congo/Zaire has hardly ever known peace and Myanmar is… Read more »
Our tribal leaders were sending their neighbours to wherever the Romans needed them…nothing new but how many wrongs does it take to make a right…hd Clark of Kent has been reading your posts…
It’s one thing for the Caribbean nations to raise the issue, but the sheer cheek of Ghana, the country that SOLD the slaves to Europeans in the first place calling for reparations is astounding.