Prescott calls for slavery memorial

A slavery memorial day should be held every year in Britain to recognise the pain of the country's black population, John Prescott said today.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who wants the day to be similar to Holocaust memorial day, said Africans wanted concrete help rather than an apology.

Mr Prescott, MP for Hull East, is leading the Government's commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. He said that Britain had to go through a process of self-examination over its role in the trade.

"The legacy of this 200th anniversary should be a permanent date when we ask whether there is more we could do," he said.

He also suggested that too much attention had been focused on William Wilberforce, the Tory MP for Hull, who had led the move to abolish the trade. "Public opinion made the change and forced the change on Parliament."