Lenny Henry calls for £18tn slavery reparations in UK and Caribbean

Sir Lenny Henry has called for Britain to pay large-scale slavery reparations to both Caribbean nations and individual Black people living in the United Kingdom in a new book that will be published this week. In The Big Payback, the comedian and campaigner argues that the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade continues to shape racism and economic inequality in Britain and proposes a programme of restitution and structural change that the authors say would include direct payments.

Henry, 66, who co-wrote the book with TV executive Marcus Ryder (some reports give the co-author's surname as Walker), sets a headline figure of 18 trillion pounds as a basis for reparations to 14 Caribbean countries and urges that Black British citizens also be compensated. The book draws on recent academic and consultancy work, including a 2023 University of the West Indies study that arrived at multitrillion-pound estimates for Caribbean claims, and cites economic assessments that quantify losses from unpaid labor, loss of liberty, and intergenerational harm.

"We personally deserve money for the effects of slavery," Henry writes in the book, arguing that the institutions and wealth built on...