Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Jeremy Corbyn
Main Page: Jeremy Corbyn (Your Party - Islington North)Department Debates - View all Jeremy Corbyn's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts(1 day, 7 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Chris Elmore
I understand the connection that the hon. Gentleman makes, but I am going to disappoint him and not bite. The reality is that if he wishes to engage in this matter, he should engage with the Attorney General directly and, more importantly, with the Minister for the Overseas Territories, who I am sure would be happy to speak to him.
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Your Party)
I thank the Minister for his statement, and I am pleased that he put on record his thanks to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for hosting the conference. The issue of slavery obviously came up. Many in this House do not want to discuss it, but the reality is that the slave trade and slavery made a lot of wealthy people in this country even wealthier, the compensation paid was massive, and many big British companies still benefit from the profits of it. That leads to the issue of the systemic debt that many former colonies have, the imbalance of trade, the inequality and the poverty. The issue of reparations will not go away just because the Minister wishes it to go away; it is live, strong and will be debated for as long as it takes to get some kind of global justice.
Chris Elmore
The right hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issue of debt relief. That is part of the work that happened at this CHOGM, and the whole point of the constructive dialogue is to look at some of the Caribbean Community asks and wider pieces of work on culture, heritage and education. However, to be clear, our position on reparations has not changed. I refer him to the fact that various Governments around the Caribbean, and indeed in west Africa, have warmly welcomed this dialogue from the Prime Minister and accept that there are parts of this work on which Britain will have clear positions. That does not mean that we cannot set up a constructive dialogue jointly and work on the priorities together, but our position on reparations is not going to change.