Sir Keir Starmer is facing pressure to rethink the UK’s position on reparations for its role in the slave trade, as the government is set to face a showdown next year with a delegation of Caribbean nations over the issue.
It comes as the prime minister travels to Samoa for a major Commonwealth summit.
The biennial gathering of heads of government for the 56 nations will see leaders elect the new Commonwealth secretary general. All three candidates seeking the top job have called for reparations to countries that were affected by slavery and colonialism.
The 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), who have previously set out formal demands for reparations in a 10-point plan, are planning a delegation to the UK in 2025 with an updated list of demands.
Downing Street has rejected demands, saying the issue is “not on the agenda” for the event and “we won’t be offering an apology”.
Pressure is also building on Sir Keir from within his party, with Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, saying No 10’s position was “disappointing” and likening it to old “colonial attitudes”.
“The idea that we wouldn’t be addressing it at all and just ignoring the question feels wrong to me, that we would dismiss it when we know that so many people have these concerns – countries we say are our equals, but we’re not willing to discuss something that so many of them have on the agenda,” she said.
“For us to say we don’t want to talk about it at all kind of harks back to colonial attitudes. I think it’s wrong for us not to discuss it and I hope that that will change.”
Labour MPs Clive Lewis, Nadia Whittome, Marsha de Cordova and former minister Dawn Butler told The Guardian they too want Sir Keir to change tack.
On Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesperson insisted he would not be discussing reparations at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (Chogm) this week.
“The government’s position on this has not changed, we do not pay reparations,” they said.
“The prime minister is attending this week’s summit to discuss shared challenges and opportunities faced by the Commonwealth including driving growth across our economies.”
Asked about the government’s position on offering an apology for historical wrongs, they added: “The position on apology remains the same, we won’t be offering an apology at Chogm, but we will continue to engage with partners on the issues as we work with them to tackle the pressing challenges of today and indeed for the future generations.”
Recently resurfaced footage showed foreign secretary David Lammy, who will join Sir Keir in Samoa, supporting the case for reparations while he was a backbench Labour MP in the wake of the Windrush scandal.
Caricom has called for talks to explore such measures, and representatives from the region are expected to raise the issue in Samoa.
All three candidates in the running to become the next secretary general of the Commonwealth – Shirley Botchwey of Ghana, Joshua Setipa of Lesotho and Mamadou Tangara of the Gambia – have also supported reparatory justice.
It has not been agreed how much the UK would owe but Reverend Dr Michael Banner, the Dean of Trinity College Cambridge, hit headlines earlier this year when he claimed Britain owed £205bn in reparations.
In 2023, a report authored by Patrick Robinson, a leading judge at the International Court of Justice, declared that the UK should pay £18.8 trillion for its slavery involvement in 14 countries.
The Chogm summit will also be attended by the King, the head of the Commonwealth, following his visit to Australia, where he was berated on Tuesday by an Australian senator who accused him of “genocide” against her nation’s Indigenous people.
