What are reparations for slavery and colonialism – and will the UK pay?

As global row intensifies, Reform UK has said it would not issue visas for people from any country seeking reparations

The rightwing Reform UK party has said it would stop issuing visas to people from any country that seeks reparations for the transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of Africans, at a time when the global battle for reparative justice is intensifying.

Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, this week claimed the UK was being “ridiculed on the world stage” and said the “bank is closed” to anyone who wanted to “use history as a weapon to drain our Treasury”.

This is a characterisation that Caricom – the political bloc of Caribbean nations – has long argued is wrong, stressing that nations seeking reparative justice want a mutually beneficial partnership.

Last month a resolution spearheaded by Ghana passed at the UN general assembly. It described the slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity” and called for reparations as “a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs”. While 123 nations voted in favour, the US voted against it and the UK abstained.