Slavery reparations would be ‘a vast unjust fine on the British people’, says ex-Archbishop of Canterbury

Forcing millions of ordinary Britons to fund huge sums in slavery reparations to Caribbean nations would be a 'moral evil,' the former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has claimed.

It would be a 'vast fine on the entire British people for a crime they did not commit,' he says writing for The Independent.

'You may be able to fine individual people for their conduct, but not everyone for their nationality,' states Dr Welby.

His comments come as King Charles and prime minister Andy Burnham attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) In Antigua where they face mounting demands to pay reparations for Britain's role in the slave trade.

Dr Welby was Archbishop in 2023 when the Church of England pledged £100 million to “address past wrongs” after it emerged that its investments had historic links to slavery.

In his article in The Independent, he refers to renewed calls for the British government to recompense Caribbean nations for slavery as 'fake "reparations,"' describing them as 'futile and unjust.'

He writes: “There are so many reasons why the idea of reparations for slavery is wrong.

“You can’t define who should receive or who should pay. The UK of 2026 is a totally different country from that of 1833 (at the abolition of slavery in the British Empire).

“Many UK taxpayers are the descendants of slaves, or came from places affected in West Africa. There would be no justice in who paid. The vast majority of Britons have no connection to slavers’ profits – and nor did their ancestors.

“Nor would there be justice in who received. There is no straight line between victims of those times and their descendants. Too much time has passed.”

Dr Welby recalls his shock on being told on a visit to Jamaica while Archbishop that Britain should pay $21 trillion in reparations - 'more than the total wealth of the UK.'

He writes: “Ordinary people from all backgrounds and ethnicities are suffering here at home today. Reparations would amount to a vast fine on the entire British people for a crime they did not commit.

“You may be able to fine individual people for their conduct, but not everyone for their nationality.

“Group punishment is a moral evil. It mixes up the guilty and the innocent even when it is about contemporary times, let alone two centuries past.”

He adds that a better way to help Caribbean nations would be to invest in new technologies and tackle other problems with them together.

This would 'build more wealth than a futile and unjust payment of fake “reparations” ever could,' says Dr Welby, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 2013 to 2025.

He resigned from the post after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church of England.

When he presided over the Church of England move to act over its own historic links to slavery he said they were a “source of shame” and it was right to respond to the issue.

The Church had invested large sums in a company that transported slaves via an investment fund, known in the 18th century as Queen Anne's Bounty.

The Church announced a £100 million scheme three years ago to provide a 'better and fairer future for all, particularly for communities affected by the slave trade.'