Barbados leader rejects ‘asinine’ claim by former U.K. minister that ex-colonies should repay Britain

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has described as “asinine” a suggestion by a U.K. lawmaker that Britain’s former colonies should repay it for its historic investment in them.

“I cannot believe we are being asked to respond to the suggestion that the descendants of the enslaved should pay for the machinery that oppressed them,” Mottley wrote on X late Thursday. “The Caribbean does not owe Britain for slavery, for colonial extraction, or for laws that treated African people as chattel. We are not asking for charity. We are asking for justice, and history itself has already told the truth.”

She was speaking after Suella Braverman — a former British Home secretary who is now a member of the anti-immigration Reform UK party — wrote in a post on X on July 3 that the British Empire “did so much good for the world.” Braverman was writing in response to another parliamentarian who noted that Jamaica planned to lodge a formal petition for reparations later this year.

“If the government is seriously thinking about this then former colonies should pay the British back for the considerable investment, effort and contribution that this country made which laid the foundations for many flourishing democracies today,” Braverman wrote.

Mottley’s comments came after Caribbean leaders who are members of the regional trade bloc Caricom met this week in St. Lucia to discuss issues including slavery reparations.

Mottley said she doesn’t doubt there are some British parliamentarians who want to distract people from the domestic politics of the United Kingdom.

“Those who wish to speak on this matter should first take the time to read enough history to understand it,” she wrote on X. “The Caribbean will not be used as a prop for anyone’s politics.”

Last month, Mottley led a subcommittee of Caribbean leaders that launched a new slavery reparations manifesto during a reparations conference in Ghana.

Under Mottley, Barbados cut ties with Queen Elizabeth II in November 2021 and ceased to be a constitutional monarchy. The prime minister, who also is known globally for fighting climate change, clinched a third consecutive term in February.

In recent years, Britain has insisted it will not pay to make amends, while Caribbean leaders have called for a formal apology and various measures including debt cancellations.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk has said that an estimated 25 million to 30 million Africans were uprooted for the purpose of slavery, with many sent to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas.