David Lammy: Slavery reparations not about transfer of cash

BBC UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the concept of reparations for former colonial nations affected by slavery “is not about the transfer of cash”. In his first comments since 56 Commonwealth leaders in October signed a joint letter saying “the time has come” for a conversation about reparations, Lammy told the BBC that was not “the debate people are wanting to have”. “I’m keen to emphasise that there’s a sort of simplistic press debate in part of the media that thinks this is about the transfer of cash,” he said. Speaking in Nigeria, Lammy said instead the UK wanted to look to developing relations with the continent based on the sharing of skills and science. “It’s not about the transfer of cash, particularly at a time of a cost of living crisis around much of the globe, and certainly in the UK,” Lammy said. “That is not the debate I think that people are wanting to have. They’re wanting to think about the future.” Speaking in Lagos, a Nigerian port city once central to the transatlantic slave trade, during his first visit to Africa as foreign secretary, Lammy said it was right the UK had previously apologised for...