Conservative MPs and peers are urging the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury to halt plans for £100 million in slavery reparations, arguing the funds are legally earmarked for church maintenance and clergy salaries.
The call to action, detailed in a letter seen by the Sunday Times, comes as Dame Sarah Mullally prepares to take office next month as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury.
The proposed reparations fund stems from a January 2023 report examining the Church of England’s historical ties to transatlantic slavery. The report revealed that Queen Anne’s Bounty, a fund established in 1704 to support poor clergy, was used to invest in and profit from the enslavement of African people.
Following the report’s publication, then-Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby expressed “deep sorrow” and pledged action to address the Church’s “shameful past.” The Church Commissioners subsequently announced the £100 million fund, intended for a nine-year program of investment, research, and engagement within communities impacted by the transatlantic slave trade.
However, the dissenting MPs and peers argue that diverting these funds would be a misstep, emphasizing the urgent need to “strengthen parishes” and maintain church buildings currently facing disrepair. They characterize the reparations plan as a “high-profile and legally dubious vanity project.”
A Church Commissioners spokesperson stated that arrangements for the fund are being “developed transparently – in line with charity law,” and are consistent with the Church of England’s mission to “seek to transform unjust structures of society.”
Mullally, currently the Bishop of London, will be formally installed at St Paul’s Cathedral in January and enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral in March. The 63-year-old former NHS chief nurse became a priest in 2006 and was appointed the first female Bishop of London in 2018, making her the third most senior member of clergy in the Church of England.
The appointment comes after a period without a permanent Archbishop, following Justin Welby’s resignation amid a safeguarding scandal.
