Current location:Earth Echo news portal > health
MPs' fury at 'virtue
Earth Echo news portal2024-05-21 21:07:35【health】9People 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.
Address of this article:http://morocco.shellye-mcdaniel.com/news-4b499576.html
Very good!(45)
Related articles
- Shohei Ohtani's first walk
- Lou Groza Award winner Graham Nicholson transferring to Alabama
- China's power use up 7.4 pct in March
- China's new Hugo Award winner draws inspiration from history and traditional culture
- College baseball notebook: Conference tournaments to decide NCAA automatic bids and many at
- Iran's supreme leader acknowledges it hit little in Israel attack
- Former senior policy advisor to Obama White House charged with child sex offences in British court
- Oil consumption back to 2019 levels
- Fresh heartache for cancer
- Lauren Sanchez 'begged Kellyanne Conway for help with her public image when they met at a party'
Popular articles
Recommended
Supreme Court rejects an appeal from a Canadian man once held at Guantanamo
Europe warming twice as fast as other continents, report says
Local election workers fear threats to their safety as November nears
Dakota Joshua scores 2 goals to help lift Canucks past Predators 4
I'm a cruise ship worker...these are the FIVE things smart passengers always do onboard
Olivia Dunne shares selfie in all
China's central bank adds liquidity via reverse repos
Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died at 76
Links
- An Overview of Xi's Diplomacy in Spring 2023
- Xi Extends Condolences over Disastrous Heavy Rains in Rwanda
- Migratory birds seen in Qilihai wetland nature reserve in Tianjin
- People enjoy water activities to beat summer heat
- Scenery of Arxan National Forest Park in north China's Inner Mongolia
- Xiplomacy: How China Helps Preserve Cultural Heritage Sites in Asia
- Autumn scenery in Changqing scenic area, Hebei
- Scenery of Lhalu wetland national nature reserve in Lhasa
- Xi Meets Representatives to 10th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations
- Xi Meets Representatives to 10th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations