Church of England plans to set up £1bn fund to deal with slavery

As the reparations industry shifted into gear, the Church of England last year announced it was setting up a £100 million fund to address the legacy of slavery.

But in March, it said it planned to increase that into an eye-watering £1billion pot to deal with 'the scale of the moral sin and crime'.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hailed the move, describing it as 'the beginning of a multi-generational response to the appalling evil of transatlantic chattel enslavement'.

Others in the Church were less happy. Paul Eddy, a vicar in west Oxfordshire and a former member of the General Synod, said: 'Where does this all end? 

'If they start paying out this sort of money now, the commissioners will surely have to keep in reserve large sums of money to pay for the wrong today's Church will do.'

The funds would be invested into black-led businesses focusing on education, economic empowerment and health outcomes.

But Barbadian prime minister Mia Mottley said the reparations package was put forward without input from the Caribbean or the descendants of slaves. She said the Church 'never stopped to ask us or have a conversation with us... that is unacceptable'.

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The Church's influence can be traced back to Queen Anne's Bounty in 1704 – a fund heavily invested in the South Sea Company, which shipped slaves from Africa over a period of 30 years.

The family of Victorian-era prime minister William Gladstone last year apologised for its slave-holding past and pledged to fund research.

The PM's father, John, owned or had control of more than 2,500 slaves in Guyana and Jamaica, with William later defending his actions and opposing the abolition of slavery. 

John received compensation equal to £10 million in today's money when the practice was outlawed in 1833.

US authorities in San Francisco, Boston and Illinois have begun lining up reparations schemes. It is unclear where the money will come from. 

But other states, such as New York and California, have mooted their initiatives. The latter earmarked a budget of $12 million before plans were shelved.