UK Caribbean Delegation to Push for Slavery Reparations in Historic Westminster Visit

[Social Media]

 

Title: Caribbean Delegation to Push for Slavery Reparations in Historic Westminster Visit

 

A delegation of Caribbean activists, academics, and supporters is set to arrive at Westminster to present their case for slavery reparations—demands that may run into the trillions of pounds. This renewed push for reparative justice will see events hosted within the UK Parliament, highlighting a cause that has gathered momentum internationally in recent years.

 

The group is traveling under the banner of the Repair Campaign, an initiative that supports reparations efforts throughout the Caribbean. Its founding patron, Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, who owns the telecoms company Digicel, has been instrumental in developing reparations frameworks funded by former colonial powers. The delegation will be hosted in Parliament on July 2 by Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan reparations and is a prominent advocate of the cause.

 

According to insiders, Foreign Secretary David Lammy had previously planned to host a Caricom forum in Westminster, where formal submissions regarding reparations could be heard. Though those plans were reportedly delayed, hopes remain high among campaigners that Mr Lammy—who is of Guyanese descent—will remain open to engaging with the movement. “Reparations need not be a ‘cash transfer’,” Mr Lammy has said, suggesting they could include “other forms of non-financial reparatory justice too.”

 

Caricom, the Caribbean Community, represents nations across the region and has long advocated for reparations from European nations involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The Reparations Commission for Caricom, while not officially behind this current delegation, has spent more than a decade promoting a 10-point plan for reparative justice—one that the UK government has consistently resisted.

 

The delegation includes Uriel Sabajo, representing the Suriname reparations committee, and Carla Astaphan, who will speak on behalf of St Kitts & Nevis, a former British colony. Professors from the University of the West Indies will also be part of the group, as well as UK-based supporters like Dr Michael Banner, Dean and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge.

 

Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, and David Lammy have both been invited to meet with the delegation, along with Baroness Chapman, Minister of State for Development, and members of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Invitations have also been extended to MPs representing areas with significant Caribbean populations. Events will be held at Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate.

 

The UK has already come under increased pressure to acknowledge its colonial legacy. At the 2024 Commonwealth summit in Samoa, campaigners successfully pushed for reparations to be placed on the official agenda. Although No 10 publicly rejected the idea of compensation payments, the UK did endorse the summit’s final statement, which called for “inclusive conversations” about the legacies of “chattel enslavement… dispossession of indigenous people, indentureship, [and] colonialism” as a path toward a “future based on equity.”

 

Prior to arriving in London, the delegation will make a stop in Brussels to urge other former colonial powers—including France and the Netherlands—to also confront their historical roles and provide compensation for their involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

 

The conversation around reparations has steadily moved from the margins of academic debate to international political forums, with increasing calls for concrete action. Whether this historic visit to Westminster will lead to policy shifts remains to be seen, but campaigners are determined to ensure that the conversation cannot be ignored.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from Daily Telegraph  2025-06-26

 

 

[JonnyF]

The British were instrumental in ending the slave trade. It cost us taxpayers a fortune, finally paying it all off in 2015.

 

They should bring us a bunch of flowers to say thankyou and then take their begging bowl elsewhere.