That is precisely the sort of detail that I should have liked to have had time to go into, but I promise to write to my hon. Friends the Members for Brent, South and for Islington, North about these matters. The Department for Education and Skills is very concerned about this issue, and that is why it has asked Sir Keith Ajegbo to write a report about it. I shall be happy to supply more details about that in writing.
Although the passage of the 1807 Act was an historic national event with international significance, it was primarily the result of local agitation, community activity and dissent.
The emphasis on community-based activity and commemoration is very much at the heart of the Government’s approach to the 2007 bicentenary. We have worked to facilitate and support a range of local commemorative events across the country to pay tribute to both those who suffered as a result of the slave trade and those who struggled for abolition and ensured that the new laws were enforced. Much of the commemorative activity centres on Britain’s port cities—Liverpool, London, Hull and Bristol—which were the focus of the slave trade. We have heard from Members from Hull and from the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Stephen Williams) about what is planned in those cities.
There will be a range of activities, including the opening of an international slavery museum in Liverpool in August, commemorative services at Bristol cathedral and Liverpool cathedral, the reopening of the Wilberforce museum in Hull in March, and an exhibition at the Royal Naval museum in Portsmouth on the role of the Royal Navy. A number of national commemorative events are planned. As has been said, there will be an exhibition in the Houses of Parliament, and I pay tribute to all those involved in preparing it. A national commemoration service will be held next week at Westminster Abbey.
It is right that in this debate we commemorate the parliamentary process. I find myself in the strange position not only of sharing my birthday with William Wilberforce, the most well known of the parliamentary campaigners, but of having been born exactly 200 years after him. I reflected on how I would be feeling if something I had campaigned on for nearly 20 years was at last to be achieved. I do not share the same length of time in Parliament as William Wilberforce, but my experience gives me an interesting perspective.
The abolition committee was created in 1787, as Members have said, and was made up of opponents of the slave trade including the Quakers, with William Wilberforce as its parliamentary champion. It included Thomas Clarkson, about whom we learned in more detail from the hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Moss). In 1789, Wilberforce made his most famous abolition speech in which he used powerful, passionate and emotive language to put his case forward, shaming Parliament for allowing that inhumane trade to occur in its name. I shall not quote extensively from the speech, because other Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Martin Linton), have beaten me to it, but Wilberforce ended it by saying:"““A trade founded in iniquity, and carried on as this was, must be abolished, let the policy be what it might, let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest till I had effected its abolition.””"
Wilberforce introduced motions on the abolition of the slave trade almost every year until the Act of 1807 and, as the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks told us, at 4.30 in the morning, on Second Reading, the Commons voted by 283 to 16 to abolish the slave trade. What shines through reports of the debates is the emphasis on justice and humanity.
Not only should we admire Wilberforce for his persistence in continuing his campaign year in, year out, we must commemorate, too, the resistance of those who were enslaved. There is no doubt that the role they played in seeking to gain their freedom was crucial. The autobiography of the former slave, Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, furthered the cause of abolition.
Yesterday, I was in Birmingham and was privileged to spend some time looking at the archives and the materials on the slave trade compiled by Dr. Andy Green. The role of the Quakers was central to the fight for abolition and many other Christians were involved, particularly those in the non-conformist churches. That was certainly true in Birmingham. There is also evidence of how visits to the city by former slaves, black abolitionists, influenced public opinion.
Today, we have heard today stories from around Britain. My hon. Friends the Members for Battersea and for Glasgow, North (Ann McKechin) and the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) all spoke of their experience in their area. I, too, have looked into experiences in my city, Sheffield. Many local merchants profited from the trade by manufacturing metal chains and shackles and agricultural equipment for the slaves to work the land in the plantations. However, Sheffield also voiced its strong opinion for the abolition for the slave trade. The city sent two significant petitions to Parliament: one in 1789 involving over 700 metal workers, and one in 1793 involving 8,000 signatures, which amounted to between 25 and 30 per cent. of the local adult population—an enormous feat by any standards. I pay tribute to the staff of Sheffield archives, especially Ruth Harman, who provided me with that information.
The 1807 Act was a significant achievement, making the trade in slaves illegal on British ships. Slavery, of course, remained a reality in British colonies. Campaigning for the abolition of all forms of slavery continued up and down the country, including through co-ordinated boycotts of trade products, petitions and so on—something that my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Ms Johnson) described vividly. Both Sheffield and Birmingham had ladies anti-slavery societies, which were very active. The ladies of Sheffield have certainly continued to be active, as I am sure hon. Members will know. Their techniques included writing poems and hymns, and, in Birmingham, selling bags into which they put information about the reality of slavery. They collected a large amount of money.
In 1833, the emancipation Act was passed, but a further period of apprenticeship followed, with many slaves only finally free some five years later. It is incredible that slave owners were compensated with £20 million, while the slaves received nothing. It is important to note that the slavery societies continued. I looked yesterday at records from the Birmingham society from 1918-19, when it was still campaigning on this issue throughout the world. Although the passing of the Act abolishing the slave trade 200 years ago was a landmark event, it was not the end of slavery.
I now come to the issue of human trafficking. Human trafficking is one of the main forms of modern slavery. It is an appalling crime, where people are treated as commodities and traded for profit. The problem is extensive. That was rightly raised by the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen), my hon. Friends the Members for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) and for Glasgow, North, and the hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack). As with the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, the British Government are seeking to lead the way in tackling the problem, both domestically and internationally. We have a comprehensive approach to human trafficking, involving legislation, enforcement, international co-operation and support for victims.
I should tell the hon. Member for Totnes, who asked a lot of questions, that the UK human trafficking centre, which is based in Sheffield, was established in autumn 2006 to support the overarching aim of moving the United Kingdom on in its prevention and investigation of the trafficking in human beings. It is built on the approach that developed through Operation Pentameter, to which a number of Members have referred. It will provide a response to trafficking on a national level and consists of a multi-agency representation. It will work with police forces and other agencies, while also working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which will combat trafficking on an international level.
Hon. Members asked about the level of support. Many are familiar with the POPPY scheme, which provides secure accommodation. I reassure hon. Members that we have given additional money to the POPPY project to develop further outreach measures. As my hon. Friends are now aware, the Government will sign the Council of Europe’s convention on human trafficking and will publish their own action plan. A number of issues will be addressed when that action plan is published this Friday. That issue was raised by the right hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce).
Within the plan, we set out what we seek to do, but it does not represent a final position. We recognise that there are ongoing problems and concerns. We want to work with other countries and to learn from practice elsewhere. We want to have the best possible response to the dreadful crime that was so well described by so many hon. Members today. The Government take the issue seriously and have wanted to be in a position to have a plan to move towards ratification. Clearly, I cannot give the right hon. Gentleman any further details on that today, but we take seriously signing such a convention and are doing it with the intention of being able to ratify it as soon as possible.
Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Proceeding contribution from
Meg Munn
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 20 March 2007.
It occurred during Adjournment debate on Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
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Proceeding contribution
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458 c782-5 
Session
2006-07
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House of Commons chamber
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Timestamp
2023-12-15 11:59:43 +0000
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