SAN JUAN — Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley described a suggestion from U.K. lawmaker Suella Braverman regarding former colonies repaying Britain as "asinine" in a series of social media posts on July 3, 2026. Braverman, a former British Home Secretary and member of the Reform UK party, posted on X that the British Empire "did so much good for the world." She added, "If the government is seriously thinking about this then former colonies should pay the British back for the considerable investment, effort and contribution that this country made which laid the foundations for many flourishing democracies today."

Mottley responded on X, writing, "I cannot believe we are being asked to respond to the suggestion that the descendants of the enslaved should pay for the machinery that oppressed them." She further stated, "The Caribbean does not owe Britain for slavery, for colonial extraction, or for laws that treated African people as chattel." The Prime Minister of Barbados also asserted, "We are not asking for charity. We are asking for justice, and history itself has already told the truth." Mottley concluded her remarks by writing, "Those who wish to speak on this matter should first take the time to read enough history to understand it," and "The Caribbean will not be used as a prop for anyone's politics."

Mottley leads a subcommittee of Caribbean leaders that initiated a new slavery reparations manifesto during a reparations conference held in Ghana. Caribbean leaders have advocated for a formal apology and various measures, including debt cancellations. Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy in November 2021 when it cut ties with Queen Elizabeth II. Mottley won a third consecutive term as Prime Minister of Barbados in February 2026. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk stated that an estimated 25 million to 30 million Africans were uprooted for slavery, with many sent to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas.