Commonwealth heads ‘could agree plans to discuss slavery reparations’

Commonwealth heads of government are set to agree to plans to discuss reparations for the slave trade as the Prime Minister has arrived in Samoa for a leaders’ summit.

Sir Keir Starmer touched down in the Pacific Island nation overnight ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm).

Downing Street had previously said that reparations would not be on the agenda for the meeting.

The BBC reported on Thursday that officials of Commonwealth nations are looking at an agreement that could begin conversations on the issue through a communique.

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"Facing forward"

As he travelled to the summit, Sir Keir insisted calls for reparations for slavery were not on his agenda.

“On the question of which way we’re facing I think we should be facing forward,” he told reporters.

“I’ve talked to a lot of our Commonwealth colleagues in the Commonwealth family and they’re facing real challenges on things like climate in the here and now.”

It is understood that reparations are not on the formal agenda for the summit, but there could be conversations on the wording for a communique through the event.

Earlier this week, Number 10 insisted that reparations are “not on the agenda” for the Samoan summit.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister’s attending this week’s summit to discuss shared challenges and opportunities faced by the Commonwealth including driving growth across our economies.”

Speaking to reporters as he travelled to the summit, Sir Keir said that other nations in the association were more interested in raising cash to tackle the impact of climate change.

“That’s where I’m going to put my focus rather than what will end up being very, very long endless discussions about reparations on the past,” he added.

The Prime Minister said there was “no question” that slavery was “abhorrent”, adding: “But I think from my point of view and taking the approach I’ve just taken, I’d rather roll up my sleeves and work with them on the current future-facing challenges than spend a lot of time on the past. That’s my focus.”

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Making history

Sir Keir has made history as the first UK Prime Minister to have visited a Pacific island nation, and will be in the company of King Charles, the head of the Commonwealth, during the gathering.

The Prime Minister is expected to make the case for strong economic bonds across the association, including by creating a new UK Trade Centre of Expertise, operating out of the Foreign Office.

Sir Keir has said that Britain cannot afford to be “protectionist” as it attempts to boost growth.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix the foundations to turn round the lives of everyday people in the UK, but we can’t do that with a protectionist approach,” the Prime Minister said.

He added: “Under this Government’s pragmatic and sensible approach, we must harness the opportunities to work with genuine partners – like our Commonwealth family – across the world to build resilient economies that offer real opportunity for our people, whether that is accessing untapped markets, or collaborating on grassroots innovations.

“The combined GDP of the Commonwealth is expected to exceed 19.5 trillion US dollars in the next three years, we cannot let that economic heft go to waste.”