The Labour Party has addressed calls for the UK to pay an estimated £18 trillion in reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, as King Charles travels to the Caribbean for a nine-day visit.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said reparations are not a "reasonable request" ahead of the King's arrival in Antigua. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who is expected to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) alongside Prime Minister Andy Burnham, recently said: "I don’t think reparations are the answer, and I’ve had those discussions already with some of our Commonwealth colleagues."
King's Caribbean Visit and Commonwealth Meeting
King Charles is flying to Antigua for a nine-day visit, accompanied by Queen Camilla for the CHOGM, before making a solo visit to Guyana. The King is expected to be asked to address the issue of reparations during his visit, though ministers are believed to have not advised him to offer an apology or reparations.
Shirley Botchwey, the Commonwealth's secretary general, previously said it "wouldn't hurt" if the King apologised for Britain's historic part in slavery.
£18 Trillion Assessment
According to the 2023 Brattle Group Report, the UK owes around £18 trillion for damage inflicted by slavery across 31 former slaveholding states. The study, publicly backed by prominent Jamaican judge Patrick Robinson, assessed historical damage including unpaid labor, personal injury, trauma, and loss of liberty.
Palace Response
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson previously said: "There are important discussions taking place in various fora about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved persons.
"While these are primarily matters for Governments to address, His Majesty’s previous statements on them have been unequivocal, describing them as an ‘atrocity’ which ‘forever stains our history’.
"The visit programme will therefore not shy away from ‘the darkest days of our past’, as His Majesty has described them, but, in keeping with the wishes of our host nations, it will principally be oriented to the vibrant present and promising future of each country, with visit programmes developed in close consultation with their governments to reflect their individual priorities.
"That said, it is important to note here the work His Majesty himself has done over many years both to acknowledge the wrongs of the past and to find creative ways to ‘right inequalities that endure’.
"As you would therefore expect, opportunities will be found during the visit to reflect and renew his personal, wholehearted, and continuing commitment to that process."
