Multi-billion payout in slavery reparations is not on the cards, Chancellor declares
A MULTI-BILLION payout in slavery reparations is not on the cards, the Chancellor has declared.
Rachel Reeves yesterday insisted she hasn’t seen any plans for reparations come her way.
It comes as a group of Caribbean governments is widely expected to raise the matter at a major Commonwealth summit in Samoa next week.
The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, is leading demands from West Indies nations, calling for reparations for slavery and colonialism to be part of a broader “global reset.”
But Downing Street insisted the issue “was not on the agenda” for the meeting of nations.
And Ms Reeves told GB News: “I don’t think that that is on the cards, and certainly not anything that has come across my desk as Chancellor.
“My focus is on fixing the public finances and ensuring that there is money available for our National Health Service whilst rebuilding the foundations of our economy.”
Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Just to be clear, reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.
“Secondly, the Government’s position has not changed.
“We do not pay reparations.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy had called for reparations when he was a Labour MP in the wake of the Windrush scandal in 2018.
He then said: “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!”