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The government has denied it is set to hold talks with Caribbean representatives over reparations for the slave trade as one Labour MP called for the UK to take steps towards acknowledging the damage caused by its colonialist past.
The Foreign Office angrily denied reports on Saturday that it was to meet with a Caribbean delegation on reparations.
Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan Reparations, said she had been “surprised” by the initial reports in The Telegraph, but added it was “a shame” they are not going ahead.
She told The Independent: “Talks with Caricom nations would be a significant step towards acknowledging the enduring harm caused by enslavement and colonialism. Critics often misconstrue the campaign for reparations as being solely about financial compensation, or historic events that have no relevance today.
“But for these countries our historic crimes play a central part in their present struggles. So reparations at its core is about equality and justice. There are many ways we can go about righting our wrongs, and that starts with a conversation.”
It had been reported that foreign secretary David Lammy had given Foreign Office officials the green light to hold talks with members of the Reparations Commission of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a political grouping of 15 states, to discuss the UK paying for its past acts as a colonial power.
But in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, the Foreign Office claimed the reports were false. It said: “The Telegraph front page today is wrong and mendacious. There will be no such delegation of Caribbean leaders or officials in spring. We do not pay reparations.”
It had been speculated that the decision to hold the meeting would follow last year’s gathering of Commonwealth heads of government in Samoa where Caribbean nations pressed prime minister Keir Starmer into discussing the ongoing impact of historic slavery and reparations.
At the time, Sir Keir agreed to continue talking about the issue but had suggested he was against paying reparations.
Sources have suggested that the delegation would be led by Mia Mottley, Barbados’s prime minister.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy’s comments followed Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel leading attacks against Mr Lammy on the issue, linking it with controversial plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
She said: “When Labour negotiate, Britain loses. Having agreed to surrender billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to Mauritius to give away the Chagos Islands, the rest of the world has seen how easy it is to force this weak and pathetic Labour government to bend to their demands.
“Now we see that Keir Starmer and David Lammy have once again been caught out failing to defend the national interest. Instead of focusing on strengthening future trade and partnership ties with the Commonwealth, they are letting their Labour friends and activists set the agenda.
“Whether it’s the surrender of Chagos, kowtowing to China, cosying up to the EU or considering reparations, Labour cannot be trusted to defend our interests and protect hard-pressed British taxpayers.”
