Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is “open” to the possibility of the United Kingdom issuing a formal apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, but has ruled out considering financial reparations.
The Burnham slavery apology position, set out in a piece for the Guardian on Friday, goes further than any previous prime minister — but stops well short of what Caribbean nations have demanded. Burnham said he wanted a “dialogue with those affected by the slave trade” and was open to “calls for an apology”, while dismissing reparations as “not the right answer”.
A Commonwealth summit looms
The comments come ahead of a Commonwealth leaders’ summit in the Caribbean next week, which Burnham will attend, and as King Charles III continues a tour of the region. Caribbean nations have renewed calls for the UK to apologise for its role in the slave trade, and for reparations, in the lead-up to the King’s visit.
Burnham described the transatlantic slave trade, when Africans were trafficked to the Americas, as a “brutal and barbaric violation” and said Britain must “face up to the past”. He wrote: “I do not think that British people today can be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, that happened in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part.”
Reactions and the road to Antigua
The prime minister is due to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, where the King, as head of the “family of nations”, will preside and give the opening address on Tuesday. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness have both responded to Burnham’s comments, according to reports.
The British government has never formally apologised for slavery or offered to pay reparations. Burnham’s offer of a “structured dialogue” — with a formal apology now potentially on the table — is the closest any prime minister has come. Whether the Caribbean leaders he meets next week consider it enough is another question entirely.
