Keir Starmer says he won't discuss slavery reparations at Commonwealth meeting

The prime minister says he won't be discussing reparations for slavery at a key Commonwealth summit because it would lead to "very long endless discussions" about the "past".

Starmer is facing pressure from Commonwealth leaders and some of his own MPs to pay reparatory justice for the UK's role in the slave trade.

But the PM said he's only focused on the "future" rather than the "past".

"Of course slavery is abhorrent... there's no question about that", he told reporters on the flight to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.

"I'd rather roll up my sleeves and work with [Commonwealth leaders] on the current future-facing challenges than spend a lot of time on the past."

Leaders at the summit are electing the new Commonwealth secretary general, and all three candidates going for the job have called for reparations for countries affected by slavery and colonialism.

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Caricom, a group of 15 Caribbean nations, has called for talks to explore such measures, and representatives from the region are expected to raise the issue in Samoa.

But Downing Street made clear earlier this week that the issue "is not on the agenda", and "we won't be offering an apology."

Five left-wing Labour MPs have urged Starmer to reconsider his position on reparations, the Guardian reported on Monday.

One of those MPs, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, said Number 10’s position was “disappointing” and likened it to old “colonial attitudes", in an interview with the PA news agency.

"The idea that we wouldn’t be addressing it at all and just ignoring the question feels wrong to me, that we would dismiss it when we know that so many people have these concerns", she said.

A report by a senior UN judge last year concluded that the UK owes more than £18 trillion in reparations to 14 different countries.

The King is also attending the summit as the head of the Commonwealth following his visit to Australia, where he was berated by an Australian senator who accused him of “genocide” against her nation’s indigenous people.

The prime minister said his focus at the summit is on other issues like climate, which he believes is among the most important concerns for the other countries.

"Whether it's the Caribbean or the Pacific Islands, climate is a very real problem right now", Starmer told reporters.

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