Burnham Open to Formal Apology for Slavery, Stops Short of Reparations Ahead of Caribbean Summit

Writing in The Guardian ahead of a trip to the Caribbean, Prime Minister Andy Burnham set out how Britain will approach one of the hardest questions awaiting him at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, known as Chogm, next week. He said he feels personal "sorrow and regret" for the suffering caused by the transatlantic slave trade, and that he is open to a formal apology on behalf of the British state.

He did not soften his description of the trade. He called it a "brutal and barbaric violation" in which people were treated as property and worked to their deaths. He wrote that he wanted to express sorrow and regret for the pain of so many millions, and to recognise the way the trade still shapes the world today.

The article lands against a backdrop of pressure. Caribbean nations have renewed their calls for Britain to apologise for its part in selling enslaved people for profit, and to pay reparations. Those calls grew louder as the King toured the region.

Burnham's answer on the apology was an opening rather than a commitment. He said Britain is offering a "structured dialogue" with those affected by the slave trade, and that listening to calls for a formal apology from the British state will be an important part of that process. "I am open to them," he wrote. He framed the conversations as both a matter of national interest and of national character: the right thing to do, and the patriotic thing, because the Britain he believes in is "confident, decent and brave." He pointed to Britain's role in abolishing slavery and argued the country can show leadership again.

On reparations, he was firm, and consistent with his predecessors. Burnham acknowledged that some have called for financial reparations but said he does not believe that is the right answer. He argued that British people today cannot 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. He offered no consideration of reparation payments.

In their place, he proposed a drive on debt-servicing, aimed at helping countries repay over longer periods and on better terms. 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 package he described extends beyond debt. The UK, he said, will also support countries in the transition to renewable energy and in getting smaller nations heard on the world stage. It will back work to educate women and girls and to tackle poverty and inequality.

The summit will now test the approach. Caribbean leaders who have asked for both an apology and reparations will weigh a government that is open on the first, closed on the second, and offering debt and development measures in between. How far a structured dialogue satisfies them, and whether the apology question moves from openness to action, is what to watch in the Caribbean next week.