Current location:travel >>
MPs' fury at 'virtue
travel38People have gathered around
IntroductionMPs today dismissed a 'virtue-signalling' claim that the UK owes Caribbean nations more than £200bil ...
MPs today dismissed a 'virtue-signalling' claim that the UK owes Caribbean nations more than £200billion in slavery reparations.
The estimate has been made by the Dean of Trinity College Cambridge Dr Michael Banner.
Based on the compensation claims made by slave owners when the trade was first abolished in 1833, and adding compound interest, the theologian said the total owed should be £205billion.
But the call was derided by MPs as not belonging in the 'real world', with a former minister pointing out that the UK had defended Commonwealth states for decades and provided other support.
The UK owes Caribbean nations £205billion in slavery reparations, a leading Cambridge academic has said (File image of a cartoon on the petition to end the slave trade)
Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr (pictured) said Dr Banner's reasoning 'may have its place in the ivory towers of Russell Group universities' but did not 'speak to the real-world challenges we are facing'
Despite the UK government rejecting the case for reparations, Dr Banner has urged the Scottish Government to 'show leadership' on the issue and start paying back its share of £20.5billion.
It comes after Tory MPs rebuffered calls from Caribbean nations for Britain to pay reparations over treatment of 'indentured workers'.
Speaking to the Herald on Sunday, Dr Banner claimed that Scotland should seize the initiative due to presenting itself as more liberal than the remainder of the UK.
'It's well-known Scots played an outsized part in growing and sustaining the British empire, and Glasgow was in particular closely tied up with Caribbean trade,' he said.
'Scotland now has an opportunity to show leadership once again on the side of right, by recognising the compelling case for making reparations to the nations and people of the Caribbean.'
He added: 'The British Government has consistently failed to face up to this responsibility. Scotland can show the way.'
The theologian based the amount he believes the UK should pay back on more than £40million of compensation slave owners said they were due when the trade was first abolished, even though they received half of that at £20million.
'We know the people living in the Caribbean now – the people asking for reparations – are the inheritors of those who were wronged,' he said.
However, Former Tory Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois, told MailOnline: 'With D-Day 80 approaching, it's quite right to acknowledge that we do owe a debt of honour to our Commonwealth allies, who fought bravely alongside us, against Nazi tyranny.
'But, in return, we have provided everything from defence and international security to hurricane relief, for many decades. This person from Cambridge might perhaps want to remember that?'
Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said Dr Banner's reasoning 'may have its place in the ivory towers of Russell Group universities' but did not 'speak to the real-world challenges we are facing'.
He added: 'People in Scotland have other pressing concerns. We need to deal with the real priorities of Scots and not be concerned with yet more academic virtue-signalling.'
British Empire expert James Heartfield told MailOnline: 'The West Indies' long struggle for independence was an honourable fight, but this seems like a step backwards, coming to Britain asking for more cash. Finding injury in the past isn't helping people to take responsibility for building their future.
'It upsets people that Britain paid slave owners 'reparations' for the loss of their slaves, but that was a law passed to abolish slavery by buying the slaves their freedom. I think you would have had to have voted for it if you were an MP in the 1834 Parliament.
'Prime Minister Palmerston did say in 1847 that 'this country does owe a great debt of reparation to Africa', but he did it to justify the cost of the West Africa Squadron of the British Navy that suppressed the slave trade between 1808 and 1867 at the cost of one million pounds a year.'
The organisation that represents 20 Caribbean states - Caricom - has issued a 10-point plan for 'reparatory justice'.
Last year a leading international judge claimed Britain owes almost £19trillion in reparations for its role in the international slave trade, and even that might be an 'underestimation'.
Patrick Robinson, who sits in International Criminal Court, claimed that countries behind the centuries of atrocities were 'obliged to pay' and accused politicians like Rishi Sunak of burying their heads in the sand.
He spoke after an academic report in June alleged that 31 former slaveholding states - which also include the United States and Spain - owed $100trillion - $131trillion between them.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Stellar Site news portal”。http://turkey.downmusic.org/html-06a599443.html
Related articles
French sports minister calls for sanctions after Monaco player tapes over anti
travelPARIS (AP) — France’s sports minister has called for soccer club Monaco to be sanctioned after one o ...
【travel】
Read moreIn unusual push, funders band together to get out grants around election work 'early'
travelA small portion of the billions spent around the November election will go to nonprofits working to ...
【travel】
Read moreCalling a female colleague a 'pretty woman' at work is sex discrimination, tribunal rules
travelCalling a female colleague a 'pretty woman' at work is sex discrimination, a tribunal has ruled.Sugg ...
【travel】
Read more
Popular articles
- Macron is making a surprise trip to New Caledonia amid deadly unrest and indigenous frustration
- Judge clears former Kentucky secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes of ethics charges
- Finnish hacker imprisoned for accessing thousands of psychotherapy records and demanding ransoms
- Dua Lipa is all about 'Radical Optimism,' in her music and other pursuits
- Jodie Turner
- Iran commutes a tycoon's death sentence to 20 years in prison
Latest articles
Climber found dead on Denali, North America's tallest peak
Democrats vow to protect Speaker Mike Johnson from being ousted from office
Moment serial dine
Benjamin Mendy has bankruptcy case dismissed: Ex
Philippines blames China for loss of giant clams in disputed shoal and urges environmental inquiry
Facebook and Instagram face European Union scrutiny over possible breaches of digital rulebook
LINKS
- Tunisian lawyers call for strike over arrest of their colleague amid crackdown on dissent
- Tunisian lawyers call for strike over arrest of their colleague amid crackdown on dissent
- Hotel union workers end strike against Virgin Hotels Las Vegas with contract talks set for Tuesday
- Switzerland triumphs at the most political Eurovision ever: Nemo wins scandal
- Old foes Turkey, Greece test a friendship initiative. What are the key issues?
- US aims to stay ahead of China in using AI to fly fighter jets
- Hamas announce a British
- Atlanta: Armed man killed, 3 officers wounded in altercation
- Eight people reported killed in a shooting on the southern edge of Mexico City
- US aims to stay ahead of China in using AI to fly fighter jets