The Daily Mirror highlights the comments from Black MPs – who have urged the prime minister to consider reparations, in all forms, not just cash:
Black MPs have told Keir Starmer that considering reparations for slavery is the “right thing to do”.
The PM is facing mounting pressure to confront the topic as Commonwealth leaders call on him to open up a conversation about the legacy of the slave trade. Mr Starmer on Wednesday said there was “no question” that slavery was “abhorrent” but said “we should be facing forward”, batting away calls for reparations or a formal apology.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said there should be a discussion about the different ways in which reparations can be paid, such as through environmental or educational reparations. “People have heard the large sums of money and they’ve got quite scared but they haven’t thought about all the different ways in which we could go about repairing the sheer imbalance of equality that we created by taking part in the enslavement and trafficking and colonialisation of countries,” she said.
Cabinet Office minister Abena Oppong-Asare added: “This country, this House, cannot overlook our painful and complex history of empire and slavery.”
