Keir Starmer rejects calls for slavery reparation talks

The Atlantic slave trade saw millions of Africans enslaved and forced to work, especially on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, for centuries from around 1500.

The British government and the monarchy were prominent participants in the trade, alongside other European nations.

The UK also played a key role in ending the trade through Parliament’s passage of a law to abolish slavery in 1833.

Reparations are broadly recognised as compensation for something that was deemed wrong or unfair, and can take many forms.

In the run-up to this week’s summit, five MPs from Starmer’s Labour Party have been pressing for the issue of slavery reparations to be discussed.

One of them, Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, has said it would be “wrong” not to approach the issue at the summit.