Reparations call is divisive, and ignores the case against

IN March, prior to the protests and riots in Bristol which rightly dominated local news, Bristol City Council passed a motion calling for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to be set up to investigate reparations for the UK’s part in the slave trade. The Mayor and his deputy then complained of a torrent of racially abusive messages that followed.

Of course any truly racially abusive messages are a disgrace and our elected representatives should not be subjected to this. However, the Mayor and the Mayor’s Office have a tendency to regard any criticism or dissension in this area as being ‘racist’ even when it is not and makes valid points. Could this be a handy way to avoid answering real and valid criticism, and a way to suppress criticism of their woeful record?

What of this call for an inquiry into reparations for the UK’s part in the slave trade? Simplistic, misleading, opportunist, self-serving, self-indulgent and divisive are some descriptions which come to mind, and part of a cynical and misguided attempt to indoctrinate and shame in order to gain political and financial advantage.

Did the councillors voting for this bother to look at the detailed case against reparations for slavery easily found online in highly reputable sources? Bristol’s reputation as a basket case following the mob toppling the Colston statue in 2020 and protests/riots of 2021 is further cemented by this.

In these very difficult times should we not all be pulling together and working to tackle the enormous challenges we all face at this moment, including recovering from the pandemic, countering rising inequalities in all of society, and tackling the ticking time bomb of climate change, rather than fuelling a ‘them and us’ culture war?

The Greens and Labour were the usual suspects behind this halfbaked idea with their hackneyed and insulting rallying cries, but it was disappointing that normally sensible Lib Dem councillors also supported this.

Instead of a reparations inquiry I would suggest, further down the line, a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the wider question of the British Empire and its legacy, so that an honest appreciation of its positives and negatives can be agreed in the context of its times. In this way perhaps we can have understanding of this history rather than the fevered judging of parts of it based on a one-sided selective version.

Julian Hill Knowle