A payout worth billions in reparations for Britain's historic involvement in slavery is not "on the cards" and has not come "across my desk", Rachel Reeves has said.
Academics and lawyers have claimed the overall bill owed by the UK for its part in the slave trade could be worth anything between £206billion and £19trillion.
The Caribbean Community's 14 member states had been expected to push Sir Keir Starmer on the issue at next week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa.
But in a interview with GB News on Monday at the Government's International Investment summit in London's Guildhall, the Chancellor said that any payment had "not come across my desk".
Reeves said: "I don't think that that is on the cards, and certainly not anything that has come across my desk as Chancellor.
"My focus is on fixing the public finances and ensuring that there is money available for our National Health Service whilst rebuilding the foundations of our economy."
Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister's official spokesman made clear that slavery reparations were not on the agenda at CHOGM.
MORE LIKE THIS:
- 'They are supposed to protect British interests!' Ministers BLASTED for 'giving a free hand' to Mauritius
- Gibraltar border war erupts after draconian Spanish officials start stamping passports in tit-for-tat row
- ‘Doesn’t change anything!’ David Lammy tipped to cave in to Caribbean’s ‘ludicrous’ £200bn reparations demand
He said: "Just to be clear, reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.
"Secondly, the Government’s position has not changed.
"We do not pay reparations."
That came after Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, said the Government would be "sensitive" in how it responded to demands from Caribbean countries.
Kyle told LBC: "These are very, very tricky diplomatic challenges that we have as a country because of our legacy. We are focused on the future."
Foreign Secretary David Lammy had called for reparations when he was a Labour MP in the wake of the Windrush scandal in 2018.
He said then: "I'm afraid, as Caribbean people, we are not going to forget our history - we don't just want to hear an apology, we want reparation!"
Find Out More...
