Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said the government should “categorically reject” calls for Britain to pay reparations for its role in the slave trade.
He said calls for the UK to pay compensation “are based on a false and misleading narrative of our past”.
Britain “worked harder than almost any other country to eradicate the practice” in the 19th century, adding that the anti-slavery movement was “opposed by many African kings”.
An attempt was made to discuss reparations at a meeting in Samoa of 56 Commonwealth countries.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Already excluded Payment, told the BBC: “That’s not what this government is doing.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the slave trade was “abhorrent” but it was better to focus on “today’s challenges” such as climate change.
Caribbean countries are particularly keen to address this issue. Earlier this week, Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederic Mitchell told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that reparations were not just about money, but “respect, acknowledgment that the past was wrong and needed to be corrected.” ” question.
Kemi Badenoch, Jenrick’s rival in the Tory leadership race, said the government faced compensation claims because Labor politicians “spend their time in opposition and support these fringes under the guise of decolonization” unnecessary business.”
“Now the British public is waking up to the reality that the Labor government is ashamed of its country – give away Chagos Islands, reducing UK influence at the United Nations and reducing our support for Israel’s counter-terrorism efforts.
“If I were leader of the opposition I would ensure Keir Starmer is held accountable for his deplorable actions.”
Reparations are actions that can be taken to correct past wrongs. For example, in 2013, the British government Salary Donate £19.9 million to 5,000 elderly Kenyans who were tortured by British colonial troops in the 1950s.
Beginning in the 16th century, the British government participated in the transatlantic slave trade along with other European countries.
It is estimated that between 1500 and 1800, approximately 12 -15 million people were trafficked from African countries to the Caribbean, North, Central and South America to work as slave labor. About two million died on the journey to America.
As one of the biggest beneficiaries of this trade, Britain played a key role in ending the practice and abolishing slavery in 1833.
As part of this policy, British planters were compensated £20 million for the loss of their slaves, a debt that the UK did not repay until 2015.
Speaking at the Henry Jackson Society think tank in London, Jenrick said: “Between 1808 and 1867 the UK spent 1.8 per cent of its GDP to eradicate slavery – the most expensive moral foreign policy in human history.”
“In fact, this is a movement that is opposed by many African kings.
“The West African Squadron sacrificed their lives for freedom, and it is time we honor their contributions through a national monument to honor them and all they did.”
Royal Navy Squadron assigned a task Stopped slave ships and participated in the freeing of approximately 150,000 slaves in the 19th century.
Just as European countries became wealthy through the slave trade, some African slave traders also became wealthy through the slave trade. Also made a profit from practice.
Jenrick said calls for the UK to pay compensation were “based on a false and misleading narrative of our past”.
Last year, U.N. judges co-authored a report The report estimates the UK should pay £18.8tn for its involvement in slavery.
The harm caused by the slave trade was “enormous”, the report said, adding: “Its impact still resonates in the lives of the descendants of enslaved people today.”
It also argued that “even today” future generations have lower incomes and poorer health.
Historian Professor Dame Hilary Beckles said in the report that slavery had contributed to high rates of diabetes among black people in the Caribbean, with Barbados and Jamaica “competing for the title of ‘amputation capital of the world'”.
