Leaders are set to defy Keir Starmer and press their claims for possibly trillions of dollars in compensation from the UK government.
Britain's leaders will likely face uncomfortable questions about reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting after Caribbean leaders said they would thrust the matter into the spotlight at the event in Samoa.
The Commonwealth group of 56 nations has "taken on issues other people have always run away from" before, the organisation's Secretary-General Patricia Scotland told The Associated Press on Thursday when asked if financial reparations would feature in talks. While Commonwealth leaders were holding talks in Samoa, the British finance minister ruled out the government paying reparations, the BBC reports.
The summit should involve "a 'come to Jesus' moment where we truly look at one another in the eye and say, 'look, this is what happened,'" Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis toldDavis confirmed that he is among the leaders who want their final joint communique to mention reparations and who hope to have a "frank" discussion of the matter with Starmer.
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