UK PM ‘open’ to slavery apology but not reparations

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Saturday he was “open” to the UK issuing a formal apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, but ruled out financial reparations. The Labour leader made the remarks days before attending a Commonwealth leaders summit in Antigua and Barbuda, as King Charles III tours the Caribbean. “I want to express my sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions and to recognise the way it still shapes our world today,” Burnam wrote in the Guardian newspaper.

The transatlantic slave trade was a “brutal and barbaric violation” of the rights of those enslaved, he said. The British premier added his government wanted a “structured dialogue with those affected”. “Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of this process and I am open to them.” The king is due to address the Commonwealth summit, which runs from November 1 to 4.

Britain’s central role in slavery and the treatment of people in its former colonies has loomed over the 77-year-old monarch’s Caribbean tour. In the Bahamas on Tuesday, Charles acknowledged “the great suffering of the past” during the first leg of his visit. Britain has never formally apologised for slavery or agreed to pay reparations. Burnham again rejected financial compensation, writing: “I do not believe that is the right answer.” “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.” Britain profited for centuries from colonialism and the slave trade.

In 1833, parliament passed a law to abolish slavery.