Black MPs inform Keir Starmer contemplating reparations for slavery is ‘proper factor to do’

Black MPs have told Keir Starmer that considering reparations for slavery is the “right thing to do”.

The PM is facing mounting pressure to confront the topic as Commonwealth leaders call on him to open up a conversation about the legacy of the slave trade. Mr Starmer on Wednesday said there was “no question” that slavery was “abhorrent” but said “we should be facing forward”, batting away calls for reparations or a formal apology.

But Labour MP Dawn Butler said: “I understand that the Prime Minister has said that we have to look to the future, and he’s dealing with 14 years of corruption and mismanagement by Conservative government, but we do have to consider reparations because it’s the right thing to do.” During a Black History Month debate in the Commons, the former minister pointed out that the Government paid billions of pounds in today’s money to compensate slave owners for lost capital associated with freeing enslaved people.

She added: “There has been a precedence in paying reparations for slavery. It’s just been paid to the wrong people. It makes you wonder, would it ever be conceivable that this decision would be made today – would we pay traffickers for the loss of trade? Would we pay pimps for the loss of trade? I mean it’s a ridiculous assertion.”

Labour MP Marsha de Cordova said Ms Butler was making a “vital point” with regard to reparations, adding: “It’s so important that we do open and have that discussion about reparations because like her, or myself, we are descendants of those that were enslaved.”

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said there should be a discussion about the different ways in which reparations can be paid, such as through environmental or educational reparations. “People have heard the large sums of money and they’ve got quite scared but they haven’t thought about all the different ways in which we could go about repairing the sheer imbalance of equality that we created by taking part in the enslavement and trafficking and colonialisation of countries,” she said.

Cabinet Office minister Abena Oppong-Asare added: “This country, this House, cannot overlook our painful and complex history of empire and slavery.”

In 1833 the British government paid £20million to slave owners in compensation when slavery was abolished across most of the empire, which amounted to 40% of the Treasury’s annual income and is the equivalent of £17billion. The money borrowed for the Slavery Abolition Act wasn’t paid off until 2015 which means that living British citizens helped pay to end the slave trade.

Commonwealth leaders are set to defy Mr Starmer and agree plans to discuss reparations at a major summit. As the PM jetted into a meeting of 56 Commonwealth countries in Samoa, No10 attempted to shut down discussions of the issue and insisted it would not be on the agenda. But Frederick Mitchell, the minister of foreign affairs in the Bahamas, said that a “discussion needs to be had about the history” around reparations.

He told the BBC Caricom countries – a community of 15 member states and six associate members across the Americas and the Caribbean – “want the conversation to start about it”. He added: “Many of the institutions in the UK have already conceded the point of apology, the British government isn’t quite there. But at this time, the discussion needs to be had about the history of this and the ill effects of what happened after slavery was abolished, which continue to affect our societies today.” It was reported on Thursday that officials of Commonwealth nations are looking at an agreement that could begin conversations on the issue through a communique.

Mr Starmer on Wednesday said there was “no question” that slavery was “abhorrent” but batted away calls for reparations or a formal apology. He told reporters travelling to the summit: “I think we should be facing forward. I’ve talked to a lot of our Commonwealth colleagues in the Commonwealth family and they’re facing real challenges on things like climate in the here and now.”