Tories rebuff Caribbean calls to compensate ‘indentured workers’

By James Tapsfield, Political Editor For Mailonline Published: 11:49 EDT, 13 March 2024 | Updated: 12:13 EDT, 13 March 2024 Tory MPs have rebuffered calls from Caribbean nations for Britain to pay reparations over treatment of ‘indentured workers’. The UK is facing a new demand for compensation over the estimated 500,000 people shipped from India to work on sugar plantations after African slaves were freed. As part of the indenture system, they agreed to work for a certain period in exchange for a payoff at the end – such as a patch of land. However, most remained in bonded labour for the rest of their lives. Guyana – which received large numbers of workers – is now leading a push for reparations. President Mohammad Irfaan Ali told The Telegraph earlier this week: ‘All those nations that benefited from abominable systems need to do the morally right thing and to accept their complicity in historical wrongs.’ He said a group of countries were examining the issue of ‘the atrocities committed under Indian indentured immigration’. ‘There is a growing awareness in both Britain and in many European capitals about the need for reparative justice. History is on our side, and we are...