Overview
- Reform UK, which unveiled the plan Tuesday, said it would block visas for nationals of any state that formally demands slavery reparations if the party wins power.
- The party circulated a list of roughly 17 to 19 affected countries, including Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana, Barbados and Haiti, and said the ban would cover work, study, visitor and family visas.
- CARICOM’s reparations commission chair Hilary Beckles condemned the proposal as punitive and rooted in a “legacy of toxic racism,” urging Reform to rethink the stance.
- Reform also vowed to cut aid to governments pressing for reparations, with earlier pledges to cap total UK foreign aid at £1 billion.
- The announcement follows last month’s UN General Assembly resolution urging reparatory measures, which the UK abstained on, and comes as Labour rejects paying reparations while Reform’s cited figures on past visas and aid are the party’s own claims.