St. Vincent PM calls on Sunak to support slavery reparations and apologies
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has called on UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to support slavery reparations and apologies.
Gonsalves’ call came during an interview with Channel 4 News while in the UK for King Charles III’s coronation.
“The Dutch Prime Minister did it.” “You want to tell me a European Dutch prime minister can do it, but a man of Indian descent can’t do it.”
“I believe he would have a great understanding of this issue. I’m not in his shoes, so I don’t know what the restraints are. What are the constraints? But I’m absolutely sure that he would have a profound understanding of this matter”.
Last week, Sunak rejected calls from the opposition party to issue an apology for the United Kingdom’s role in slave trading or to discuss reparations.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy had challenged Sunak to take a more aggressive stance on the issue, noting that past prime ministers and heads of state had only “expressed sorrow or deep regret” on the issue, The Guardian reported.
The prime minister responded by saying,
“What I think our focus should now be on doing is, of course, understanding our history and all its parts, not running away from it, but right now making sure that we have a society that is inclusive and tolerant of people from all backgrounds,” Sunak said last week.
Gonsalves, when asked if the new king should apologize, said:
“Will the British Political Directorate permit him to apologize?” “That’s an important question,” Gonsalves said.
