Britain has already paid in blood to end the barbaric slave trade and gives the Caribbean more than its fair share in foreign aid. It’s not our fault their leaders have failed to deliver prosperity, says Joseph Dinnage

King Charles’ visit to Antigua and Barbuda has not quite gone to plan.  

Footage of the King stuck in the rain, angrily demanding an umbrella, will have displeased the Royal Household’s communications team. Even more unedifying however has been watching the monarch, and indeed the entire British establishment, being dragged back into a conversation about slavery reparations. 

While the King will not be issuing a formal apology, the Prime Minister wrote in the Guardian last Friday that he was ‘open’ to the idea. Thankfully, Andy Burnham has ruled out financial reparations – for now.

Nevertheless, calls for reparations continue, and I fear that, though well-intentioned, a formal state apology will only intensify the campaign. This is because those leaders lobbying Britain for reparations are not so much motivated by a genuine desire for reconciliation as much as greater amounts of foreign aid. 

The Conservative commentator and City AM contributor Albie Amankona described them as ‘Commonwealth populists’ who prefer to blame Britain rather than take responsibility for failing to improve their nations’ fortunes. 

In an overestimation of our international standing, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne,has warned that without reparations from Britain, “there’s likely to be a repeat of those atrocities at some point in the future”. Browne is not the only Caribbean leader to advocate for ‘reparatory justice’. Last year, politicians from across the region, including the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines, backed a petition which would create a legal obligation for the UK to pay reparations to the countries in question. 

The truth is that reparations have already been paid. First, in blood. The West Africa Squadron, established by the Royal Navy following the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807, suffered heavy casualties in its efforts to free enslaved Africans. Throughout the 19th century, thousands of British sailors lost their lives in these missions. Financially, Britain continues to pay more than its fair share in foreign aid to Caribbean nations. Through the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Fund, we have provided £350m to build infrastructure across the region. Only yesterday, amid demands for reparations, Burnham agreed to cough up another £40m to fund Caribbean projects.  

Remember abolition too

This is a stunning act of fiscal generosity, one not repeated by other countries who were equally if not more involved in the slave trade. Why are there not calls for, say, Nigeria to cough up? As historian Nigel Biggar noted in this week’s Sunday Times, in 1850 (16 years after we abolished slavery), the Fulani still had 4m slaves – almost a million more than Britain traded across two centuries. 

Britain’s generosity goes unrecognised. It is not our fault that Caribbean leaders since decolonisation have failed to transform their countries for the better, despite the many millions they have received from the likes of Britain. On the Legatum Prosperity Index, Caribbean countries rank poorly on freedom, social cohesion and standard of life. There is only so much of this that can legitimately be blamed on Britain’s role in a barbaric practice that was formally abolished in this country almost 200 years ago. 

Britain’s part in the Transatlantic slave trade is a stain on our national history, and it is entirely right that we discuss openly both our participation in the trade and subsequent efforts to end it. This does not mean that we have an obligation to apologise or part with up to £15 trillion, as one proposal suggested, in reparations.  

It is up to Caribbean nations to adopt policies that make their nations more prosperous, not British taxpayers. As far as I can tell, the Caribbean members of the Commonwealth benefit far more from the arrangement than we do. And frankly, if we are this reviled, we should seriously consider its future.