Burnham Open to Formal Apology for Slave Trade Ahead of Commonwealth Summit, but Rules Out Reparations

Andy Burnham chose the pages of The Guardian to set out where his government stands on one of the hardest questions in Britain's relationship with the Caribbean. Ahead of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, known as Chogm, which he is due to attend in the region next week, the Prime Minister wrote that he is "open" to calls for Britain to formally apologise for its part in the transatlantic slave trade. He ruled out financial reparations.

The article was personal in tone. Burnham described the trade as a "brutal and barbaric violation" in which people were "treated as property and worked to their deaths." He wrote that he wanted to express his own "sorrow and regret" for the pain and suffering of so many millions, and to recognise the way that history still shapes the world today.

The timing matters. Caribbean nations have renewed their calls for Britain to apologise for its role in selling enslaved people for profit, and to pay reparations, as the King toured the region. Burnham's piece is the government's answer to both demands, and it treats them differently.

On the apology, he offered what he called a "structured dialogue" with those affected by the slave trade. Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state, he said, will form an important part of that process, and he is open to them. He did not announce that an apology would be made, only that it is under consideration. He framed the effort as a matter of national character: having these difficult conversations to safeguard the Commonwealth's future is, he wrote, "the right thing to do" and also "the patriotic thing to do." The Britain he believes in, he said, is confident, decent and brave, and one that led the world in abolishing slavery and can show leadership again.

On reparations, he held the line of his predecessors. "Some have called for financial reparations for the slave trade. I do not believe that is the right answer," he wrote. His reasoning was that British people today cannot be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, which happened in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part.

In place of payments, Burnham said he would seek to launch a drive on debt-servicing, aimed at helping countries repay over a longer period and at better rates. Three figures will join him at the summit to help with that work: Chancellor John Healey, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and former prime minister Gordon Brown.

The UK, he said, will also back countries in the transition to renewable energy and in getting smaller nations heard on the world stage. It will support work to educate women and girls and to tackle poverty and inequality.

What to watch at Chogm is whether the stated openness to an apology turns into a formal one, and how Caribbean leaders, who have asked for reparations, receive a package built around debt terms rather than compensation.