UK slavery reparations not on the table, says Ed Miliband
Ahead of a crunch Commonwealth summit, the British foreign secretary says his priority is addressing the current challenges low-income countries experience.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband dismissed the notion of the UK providing reparations to Commonwealth nations for its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade during a recent speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. Miliband, speaking to POLITICO Pub, stated that he is against financial compensation as a solution to poverty in these countries.
"I don’t think reparations are the answer," Miliband said, having had discussions on the matter with Commonwealth colleagues. While firmly condemning slavery as "terrible," Miliband emphasized that his priority lies in addressing current global issues affecting people worldwide. This includes tackling problems in nations that are "on the front line of the climate crisis, of the debt burden, of trying to reduce poverty in those countries."
Miliband is scheduled to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda in November. At the previous CHOGM summit in 2024, former Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged that it was time to consider a reparatory conversation about the slave trade; however, the Starmer administration chose to reduce international aid funding from 0.5% to 0.3% to increase defense spending instead.
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