Previous estimates from campaigners and academics for slavery compensation owed by Britain have ranged from £205 billion to nearly £19 trillion, with the Green Party maintaining its long-standing policy of supporting reparations despite accusations of “virtue-signalling nonsense” from rivals.
The controversy over the party’s reparations stance has intensified ahead of Thursday’s parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton, where the Greens have emerged as bookies’ favourite to win ahead of Labour and Reform UK.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake told the Daily Mail: “While hard-working families are being hammered by rising bills and Rachel Reeves’s record tax burden, these lot want to write a blank cheque funded by taxpayers for events that took place centuries ago.”
Hollinrake added: “Britain doesn’t need lectures in guilt from politicians obsessed with rewriting history. Our country helped shape parliamentary democracy, uphold the rule of law, and led the global movement to abolish slavery – achievements that changed the world for the better.”
A Reform spokesman stated: “Once again the Green Party would have us sacrifice ourselves at the altar of virtue signalling. Instead of sorting out the problems that hard-working Brits face today, they’d rather spend all their time worrying about matters that happened hundreds of years ago.”
The Greens’ 2024 manifesto pledged to “establish a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth and Reparatory Justice to address reparations needed to redress global inequalities caused by the trans-Atlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.”
The commitment follows a motion passed at the party’s October 2020 annual conference where members voted to back a pro-reparations position supporting the UK adopting “a holistic process of atonement and reparations” over slavery.
Green MP Carla Denyer stated in January this year that a formal apology from King Charles for trans-Atlantic slavery was “long overdue,” adding: “The descendants of enslaved people deserve nothing less.” Her comments followed research highlighting the British crown’s historic role in the slave trade.
Senior Green figures have also spoken out supporting the Church of England’s controversial decision to establish a £100 million fund to compensate for its historical links to slavery. The party has piled pressure on the monarchy to make formal apologies regarding the slave trade.
Legal experts have suggested the Labour Government’s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state could lead to demands for the UK to pay more than £2 trillion in reparations due to Britain’s historic role in the Middle East. Green activists used the party’s conference in Bournemouth last year to suggest reparations should be made to Palestinians following the Gaza crisis.
Fresh scrutiny of Green policies has followed Zack Polanski’s election as leader in September last year. The self-described “eco-populist” has overseen a spike in party poll ratings and membership numbers, with the Greens now posing a Left-wing challenge to Labour.
Other proposed motions for the party’s upcoming spring conference include the UK leaving NATO and allowing transgender people to take part in women’s sport. Green activists have also submitted a motion stating Zionism should be treated as a form of racism for discussion at the conference.
The Daily Mail has also revealed the Greens back legalising prostitution and freeing up access to sexually explicit pornography, adding to scrutiny of party policies ahead of the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Hollinrake concluded: “People want lower taxes, secure jobs and economic growth, not looney tunes, sixth form politics. The Green Party should focus on today’s challenges instead of chasing headlines with nonsensical demands.”
The Reform spokesman added: “Only a vote for Reform on Thursday is a vote to put the interests of the people of Gorton and Denton first.”
The party’s surge in support under Polanski’s leadership despite maintaining controversial positions on reparations, NATO membership and other issues suggests these policies have not deterred voters attracted to the Greens’ environmental and left-wing platform. Thursday’s by-election result will indicate whether the scrutiny of reparations policy impacts the party’s electoral momentum.
