King Charles has said that deepening his understanding of the horrors of slavery has made him more determined to address the wrongs of the past, as Caribbean leaders and campaigners intensified demands for an apology and reparations from Britain. But the king stopped short of an apology or explicit support for reparations, instead pointing to education, employment, intra-Commonwealth trade and climate resilience as ways of tackling continuing hardship and disadvantage. Though speaking as head of the Commonwealth, and this speech would have been drafted by Charles personally along with his advisers, palace aides have indicated there would be “no surprises” in it for the UK government.
Andy Burnham refused to be drawn on whether the UK might offer further financial contributions to the Commonwealth stopping short of direct reparations. The UK prime minister told reporters: “I’ve been very clear that we do not support reparations, and I made that quite abundantly clear in the piece that I wrote in advance of coming here. That’s what we’ve done under all governments, and in my view, we should continue to do as part of being a Commonwealth.” Pressed on whether this could mean additional financial contributions that would weigh on the taxpayer, Burnham said: “Well, you’re getting ahead.
What we need to have is that meaningful dialogue where we take time to listen, and let’s be clear: the Commonwealth is an important part of our trade too. You know, trade is up between the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth in the last year quite significantly, actually. So you need to see it in that way as well.
It benefits Britain to be here, listening to people, building that new partnership, and that’s good for growth in Britain.” Reparations are not formally on the agenda of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm), where trade, climate resilience and finance, sustainable debt, democracy and opportunities for young people were among the stated priorities of the 56-member bloc. But sustained campaigning by Caribbean governments and a growing international reparations movement have propelled the issue to the centre of political debate surrounding the gathering. Opening the summit in St John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, the country’s prime minister, Gaston Browne, said “fairness” required an “honest engagement with our shared history” and called for meaningful and respectful dialogue on reparatory justice and the enduring consequences of slavery and colonialism.
Burnham had said he was open to Britain apologising for slavery, with officials holding talks with national leaders in Antigua about what that could entail. He has also proposed discussions on debt resets for smaller Commonwealth nations and announced £40m ($54m) for critical infrastructure in the Caribbean over the next three years. But Caribbean leaders have stressed that dialogue must extend beyond an apology.
Philip J Pierre, the chair of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), described an apology as an “essential first step” but said an “apology without repair is incomplete”. He said any structured dialogue must allow consideration of the entirety of Caricom’s 10-point reparations plan, including public health, education, cultural restitution, psychological rehabilitation, debt cancellation and monetary compensation. Britain’s royal family benefited from the trade, but Charles is politically neutral and is not expected to offer an apology.
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