Sir Keir Starmer has “misunderstood” why Commonwealth leaders are asking for slave trade reparations and he needs to have some cultural respect, a Labour grandee has told Sky News.

Baroness Harriet Harman told Beth Rigby on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast the prime minister has missed the mark with his refusal to talk about reparations at this week’s Commonwealth summit.

Ahead of the meeting in Samoa, Sir Keir called the transatlantic slave trade “abhorrent” but ruled out reparations as he said countries affected would rather the UK helps them with current issues, such as the impact of climate change.

But Commonwealth leaders, many from the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific, have defied him and are drawing up an agreement to conduct further research into the issue and to begin a “meaningful conversation”.

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It could leave the UK owing billions of pounds, although Sir Keir’s spokesman said the UK does “not pay reparations”, which are usually defined as payments paid by a country for damage or losses caused to other countries or their people.

Baroness Harriet Harman, a former Labour minister, said: “It’s about the relationship between the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

“And I think that Keir Starmer needs to lean in to a sense of cultural respect and equality.”

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She said the “message” he has sent, by saying he does not want to focus on the past, “is really important”.

“I think that reparative justice is not about the past,” she said.

“Of course it’s about what happened in the past, but it’s about relationships in the future and what those relationships are based on.

“And therefore, I think to say ‘that’s all in the past, let’s look to the future’ feels like a misunderstanding of what they’re actually saying.”

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Baroness Harman said the Commonwealth leaders are saying it is actually “a present issue” and a lot of the things that happened with slavery are still having ramifications today.

“Therefore, to say that ‘we just need to put it in a box and draw a line under it’ is not going to work,” she added.

“And therefore he needs to be in this conversation rather than be ruling it out.”

She also said Sir Keir needs to think about ensuring the UK has “good relations” with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as there is a “contest” with China there.

Beijing has its sights set on many African countries, investing heavily in them in a battle for influence.