Britain May Face a Reparations Bill Worth £200bn For Role in Colonial Slave Trade
An alliance was formed by the African Union and Caribbean countries last year to present a “united front” in a bid to seek reparations from former colonizer countries for “historical mass crimes”.
A group of 15 Caribbean countries may be seeking reparations to the tune of at least £206bln ($270bln) from Britain for its role in the slave trade, the Daily Mail reported.
The issue of reparations will be on the table at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Samoa on October 21-25. Footing a bill of that scale, even in part, would “bankrupt Britain“, the newspaper warned.
The publication speculated whether British Prime Minister Keir Starmer would be able to “rebuff the entire Caribbean.” It further and slammed the “questionable” calculations of a report by US-based consultancy, Brattle Group, which claimed £206bln would be the “cheap option” for the UK.
More than 30 countries can expect Western states to pay reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, the Report on Reparations for Transatlantic Chattel Slavery in the Americas and the Caribbean, published in 2023, noted.
In March, the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) agreed to put the issue of “reparatory justice” on the table at the CHOGM.
“When we meet in Samoa, the Caribbean leaders [will] very forcefully speak to the Commonwealth as one voice. And there is one particular country with a new King, and a Labor government with an outstanding mandate, and we look forward to the reaction in October,” stated Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley in August.
Reparations for slavery and colonialism should be an inherent part of a new “global reset”, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who is leading the reparation demands from the West Indies nations, declared in an address at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September. The Barbados PM noted in a recent tweet that she had held a telephone conversation with King Charles III earlier in October to discuss the matter. Both the British monarch and Starmer are expected to attend the CHOGM gathering.
After gaining full independence in 1966, Barbados transitioned from a constitutional monarchy to a Republic in November 2021. It became the fifth Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to replace Britain’s then monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as its head of state.
In recent years, the Caribbean states have increasingly spoken out on the need for Great Britain to pay reparations for its slave trade, which was actively promoted by London in the 17th and 18th centuries.
At the previous Commonwealth summit in Rwanda in 2022, then heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, expressed “sorrow” over the “most painful period of our history”, but failed to offer an explicit verbal apology to the residents of the former colonies.
