Former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said it would be a “moral evil” for Britain to pay slavery reparations to Caribbean nations.

Writing in The Independent as the issue dominated King Charles’ visit to the Caribbean, Welby said paying reparations would be akin to fining “the entire British people for a crime they did not commit”.

In 2023, while in his role as archbishop, Welby described the Church of England’s profit from the transatlantic slave trade as a "source of shame" and a £100 million fund was set up to be allocated to address past wrongs. Welby said, however, that the fund was an “impact investment fund” for Caribbean nations, rather than reparations. 

This week, addressing a Commonwealth summit in Antigua, King Charles described the history of the transatlantic slave trade as a "shameful chapter", but he stopped short of a formal apology. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is understood to be shaping an apology, but Downing Street has ruled out paying reparations.

Writing this week, Welby said he disagreed with providing compensation.

He said:“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.”

He added: “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.”