frederick mitchell is the foreign minister of the bahamas.e to the bbc earlier today. fist he spoke to the bbc earlier toda . �* ., today. at the moment the countries _ today. at the moment the countries want _ today. at the moment the countries want the - today. at the moment the - countries want the conversation to start about it. there appears to be reluctance to even start the conversation. many countries have conceded the apology by the british government doesn't want there. at this time the discussion needs to be had about the history of this and the ill effects of what happened after slavery was abolished which continue to affect our society today. joining me live now from samoa is our correspondent katy watson. how much is this question of reparations going to be a factor in this gathering? well, officially the _ factor in this gathering? well, officially the big _ factor in this gathering? well, officially the big day _ factor in this gathering? well, officially the big day is - factor in this gathering? well, officially the big day i

frederick mitchell is the foreign minister of the bahamas. at the moment, caricom countries want the conversation to start about it. there appears to be even a reluctance to have the conversation start. many of the institutions in the uk have already conceded the point of apology, the british government isn't quite there. but at this time the discussion needs to be had about the history of this and the ill effects of what happened after slavery was abolished which continue to affect our societies today. our political editor chris mason gathered the thoughts of sir keir starmer on the way to samoa. and he spoke to him. the british prime minister emphasising to us on the plane here, the 28—hourjourney from the uk, but as far as the conversation about reparations was concerned he felt that it was too backward—looking, he didn't want conversations to get bogged down over it, and instead he wanted to focus on the future, around trade and climate change, for instance. but now courtesy of this leak to our colleaguejames landale, the bbc�*s diplomati

frederick mitchell is the foreign minister of the bahamas.hat the time has come to talk about reparations. i think at the moment caricom countries want the conversation to start about it. there appears to be even a reluctance to have the conversation start. many of the institutions in the uk have already conceded the point of apology, the british government isn't quite there. but at this time the discussion needs to be had about the history of this and the ill effects of what happened after slavery was abolished which continue to affect our societies today. our political editor chris mason gathered the thoughts of sir keir starmer on the way to samoa. the british prime minister emphasising to us on the plane here, the 28—hourjourney from the uk, but as far as the conversation about reparations was concerned he felt that it was too backward—looking, he didn't want conversations to get bogged down over it, and instead he wanted to focus on the future, around trade and climate change, for instance. but now courtesy of this leak to our colleaguej

frederick mitchell is the foreign minister of the bahamas.told the bbc he remains hopeful there's space for discussion with the uk government. this time, the discussion needs to be had about the history of this and the ill effects of what happened after slavery was abolished, which continue to affect our societies today. once you broach the subject, it may take a while for people to come around, but come around they will. the uk government does not seem to agree. britain's finance minister, rachel reeves, has ruled out paying reparations for the uk's role in the transatlantic slave trade. look, i mean, we're not going to be paying out the reparations that some countries are speaking about. i understand why they make those demands, but that's not something that this government will be doing. so how much could reparations cost the uk? a year ago, the brattle group report came out with an astonishing figure. it was written by the un judge patrick robinson who said the uk cannot ignore the call because reparations are required by history and requ

frederick mitchell is the foreign minister of the bahamas and spoke to the bbc earlier this morning.hink at the moment caricom countries want the conversation to start about it. there appears to be even a reluctance to have the conversation start. many of the institutions in the uk have already conceded the point of apology, the british government isn't quite there. but at this time the discussion needs to be had about the history of this and the ill effects of what happened after slavery was abolished which continue to affect our societies today. our political editor, chris mason, has travelled to samoa with the prime minister and is following the row over whether reparatoryjustice for slavery should be part of the commonwealth heads of government meeting. the prime minister had only been here a matter of hours and this row about reparations compensation for the slave trade has blown up here. we've had a couple of senior members of the government of the bahamas talking publicly about it already. the argument from them and others is that countries that see themselves as victims of th