Commonwealth politicians have reaffirmed their commitment to seeking reparations for historical injustices, despite warnings from UK public figures, including a former Reform insider, that the rightwing party’s pledge to “punish” countries seeking justice for slavery would harm and isolate Britain.

Reform UK’s Visa Policy Sparks Controversy

This week, Reform UK announced that they would halt visas for nationals of countries formally demanding reparations from Britain if they took power, but the policy has drawn sharp criticism from leaders across the Commonwealth, who argue that it undermines the moral imperative to address historical wrongs.

Arley Gill, the head of Grenada Reparations Commission, criticized the policy, stating, “It is not funny that they think after years of invading and colonising a people that they think a British visa for those same people is a privilege.”

Last month, a resolution championed by Ghana, which described the historical transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of Africans as “the gravest crime against humanity” and called for reparations, was passed by the UN general assembly. This resolution has been cited by Commonwealth leaders as a foundation for continued reparations advocacy.

Reform’s Stance Under Fire

Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, said on Monday the UK was being “ridiculed on the world stage.” He argued, “While countries like Jamaica, Nigeria and Ghana ramp up their demands for reparations, the Westminster establishment has rewarded them. Enough is enough.”

Sri Lanka, where Yusuf’s parents migrated from, is among countries seeking colonial redress from the UK. However, Yusuf’s comments have drawn criticism from leaders in countries that have long advocated for reparations.

Ralph Gonsalves, the opposition leader and former prime minister of St Vincent and Grenadines, accused Nigel Farage of “doing an imitative Trump” and “seeking another cultural wedge issue” that “will certainly isolate Britain further.” He emphasized that none of the Caribbean leaders advocating for reparations would be cowed by such rhetoric.

Gonsalves noted, “For us, the present is the past because of the legacy of underdevelopment, which can be empirically sourced to native genocide and the enslavement of African bodies.”

Historical Injustices and the Call for Justice

The UK has never formally apologised for slavery. Hilary Beckles, the chair of Caricom reparations commission, called for “inter-nation dialogue” and criticized the idea that victims of an enormous crime calling for justice are to be doubly punished.

He said, “Crimes against humanity have been committed against so many people on this planet and most have now received some form of apology (or) reparations. The view seems to be that the legacy of toxic racism, the legacy of white supremacy politics is still so intense that Black people are deemed undeserving … (but) I think the British parliament is filled with people who do not share that view.”

Beckles added, “I have no doubt in time the British people and the British government will come to realise (dialogue) is what is required.”

Reform leader Nigel Farage claimed the UK had spent “four decades on the high seas … driving slavery off the world’s oceans.” However, Gill criticized Reform’s position as showing a “terrible lack of knowledge” of the issues, highlighting that enslavers were compensated by British taxpayers.

Last month, the UK and Nigeria agreed to a £746m deal in which the UK would provide loan financing to refurbish two major ports in Lagos. The deal includes a £70m contract for loss-making British Steel in Lincolnshire, which has a Reform UK mayor.

Neville Watson, who was Reform UK’s only Black branch chair until he left last year, called for reparations. Watson, the Christian People’s Alliance candidate for 2028’s London mayoral elections, said Reform’s stance would “punish nations for raising legitimate historical claims” and compound UK skills shortages.

Watson described the UK-Nigeria trade deal as a reminder that “our prosperity is seated in partnership,” adding that the Reform visa policy would “tear down the very fabric of trade and diplomacy.”

Antoinette Fernandez, the global majority Greens reparations officer, said, “Britain outlawed slavery because consistent slave uprisings made it no longer profitable. Reparative justice is about correcting not just the wrongs of the past but the ongoing exploitation of African countries – a large majority of which still provide natural resources and goods to Europe for which they are consistently shortchanged.”

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan Reparations, called Reform’s policy a “ridiculous provocation,” adding “reparatory justice was never simply about money. The demand is for acknowledgment, truth-telling and structural repair.”

Ribeiro-Addy said, “Reform have either failed to grasp that, or chosen to ignore it. What they are effectively doing is threatening the descendants of the enslaved for insisting the transatlantic slave trade be recognised as a crime against humanity. Some still believe they sit at the head of a table the rest of the world was never invited to. The world is changing.”

Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, said, “The total death toll (of slavery) may exceed 20 million. We confront that history honestly not as an act of self-flagellation but because the alternative – the insistence that power never has to account for itself – is exactly the logic that makes atrocities possible in every generation.”

Since Brexit, the UK has turned again to former African, Caribbean and Asian colonies to fill skills shortages in teaching, health, social care and the Prison Service. At a press conference on Tuesday where Farage was asked if the party had done any modelling on cost and the impact on UK employers, he said they would not backdate the visa block.

Keir Starmer has previously said the UK would not pay reparations, but No 10 has indicated the country could support some forms of reparatory justice, such as restructuring financial institutions and debt relief.