Britain Faces Calls to Address Slavery Legacy After £20 Million 1833 Payout to Enslavers
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Nov 3
Britain Faces Calls to Address Slavery Legacy After £20 Million 1833 Payout to Enslavers
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Nov 3
Summary
Letters responding to Andy Burnham argue Britain still bears state responsibility for slavery’s legacy, rejecting his distinction between present citizens’ lack of personal guilt and the state’s continuing obligations.
£20 million was borrowed by the British government in 1833 to compensate enslavers after abolition, with about 40,000 claims filed; that public debt was serviced by taxpayers until 2015 while the enslaved received nothing.
Writers say the same state that identified enslavers for compensation could now trace how slavery-built wealth endures, and they call for measures ranging from compensation and debt cancellation to material redistribution.
Caribbean poverty, Commonwealth debt and Britain’s present wealth were cited as living consequences of slavery and empire, with one letter urging a parliamentary inquiry into who benefited, who was harmed and what repair now requires.