Sir Keir Starmer is facing pressure from Labour ranks and Caribbean countries to rethink his resistance to reparatory justice for the UK’s role in the slave trade as he attends a major Commonwealth summit.
The Prime Minister will travel to Samoa this week for the biennial gathering of heads of government for the 56 nations, where leaders will elect the new Commonwealth secretary general.
All three candidates vying for the job have called for reparations to countries that were affected by slavery and colonialism, but Downing Street has said the issue is “not on the agenda” for the event and “we won’t be offering an apology.”
Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill Bell Ribeiro-Addy said Number 10’s position was “disappointing” and likened 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 told the PA news agency.
“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.”
Four other Labour MPs – Clive Lewis (Norwich South), Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East), Marsha de Cordova (Battersea), and former minister Dawn Butler – have also urged Sir Keir to change tack, the Guardian reported.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman earlier 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,” he said.
“The Prime Minister’s 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, the spokesman 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, a group of 15 Caribbean nations, 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 Gambia – have also supported reparatory justice.
The summit will also be attended by the King, the head of the Commonwealth, following his visit to Australia, where he was berated by an Australian senator who accused him of “genocide” against her nation’s indigenous people.
While a majority of Commonwealth leaders are expected to attend the summit, India’s Narendra Modi and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa will be noticeably absent.
The two leaders have chosen instead to prioritise the BRICS summit in Russia at the invitation of president Vladimir Putin, where the leaders of Brazil, China and several other prominent developing nations will also be present.
Downing Street on Tuesday rejected suggestions that the snub showed the Commonwealth’s importance had diminished.
Asked whether the association had become irrelevant, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “No. The Commonwealth Games remains a key pathway for elite athletes, it will be a fantastic event for spectators, it’s going to bring jobs and growth to the Glasgow economy.
“More broadly the Prime Minister is looking forward to travelling to Samoa this week to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting. It will bring together delegations from 56 countries representing a combined market for British business set to be worth 19.5 trillion dollars by 2027.”
