The Atlantic slave trade saw millions of Africans enslaved and forced to work, especially on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, for centuries from around the year 1500.

The British government and the monarchy were prominent participants in the trade, alongside other European nations.

The UK also played a key role in ending the trade through Parliament’s passage of a law to abolish slavery in 1833.

Reparations are broadly recognised as compensation for something that was deemed wrong or unfair, and can take many forms.

Caribbean leaders have argued for some financial recognition of the legacy of slavery. Estimates for compensation from campaigners and academics have ranged from £205 billion to nearly £19 trillion.

Caricom, an association of 15 Caribbean countries, has a dedicated reparations commission to make the case for “reparatory justice” to the region.

In 2014, it adopted a list of demands including for European governments to contribute towards health and education programmes, and write off some of their national debt.

In the run-up to this week’s summit, five MPs from Sir Keir’s Labour Party have been pressing for the issue of slavery reparations to be discussed.

One of them, Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, has said it would be “wrong” not to approach the issue at the summit.