As those of you who follow this blog will know, I am from the city of Liverpool.

I have long had an interest in the history of Liverpool and am a regular visitor to the city’s museum’s, including the International Slavery Museum, https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/international-slavery-museum.

Liverpool played a significant role in the transatlantic slave trade and much of the city’s wealth was derived from slavery. For example, the beautiful Speke Hall was partly constructed as a consequence of money made from slavery, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/liverpool-lancashire/speke-hall/speke-halls-colonial-connections.

It is sobering to walk around Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum and to learn of Britain’s role in the slave trade. However, Britain can be proud of the fact that it was one of the first countries to outlaw participation in the slave trade in 1807, and ban slavery in the British Empire in 1833.

History Reclaimed has a fascinating video on the Royal Navy’s role in trying to prevent other nations such as Spain and Portugal from continuing to engage in slavery, https://historyreclaimed.co.uk/the-royal-navys-campaign-against-the-slave-trade/.

Am I in favour of the UK paying compensation due to our participation in slavery? The answer is no. Slavery was (and remains abhorrent). People are not property and each individual is uniquely valuable in his or her own right. However, Britain’s participation in the Transatlantic slave trade ended in 1807 and in it’s empire in 1833. I am highly sceptical that countries with large populations originally derived from enslaved people can blame their countries ills on the actions of British people long since dead.

I am also sceptical as to how such compensation would work and the ethics underpinning any proposed scheme. Should the British person living on a deprived estate pay his taxes to the descendants of slaves some of whom will undoubtedly be far wealthier than he is? If the answer is yes, should black British people be compensated by their white friends and fellow citizens?

There is a strong moral argument for helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world, including in Britain’s former colonies. However, to tie such aid to slavery has the potential to raise racial and international tensions and would not, in my view be helpful in fostering good relations between communities.

We should also be wary of putting the sins of our ancestors on the generations living today. British people alive in the 21^st century had no role in slavery and it is frankly wrong to expect them to pay compensation for wrongs perpetrated long before they where born.