PM Burnham Pushes Commonwealth 'Debt Reset' as UK Edges Toward Slavery Apology

Andy Burnham is due to stand beside the King at the formal opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua, and from there begin talks with fellow leaders about something no British government has done before: formally apologising for the slave trade, possibly within the next year.

Downing Street said the prime minister would also set out a plan it calls a "debt reset", meant to help Commonwealth countries struggling with the rising cost of interest payments on their debts. Representatives from 56 Commonwealth countries are attending the summit, and the question of reparations, meaning compensation for the victims of slavery, has dominated the run-up.

Burnham opened with a pointed line: "Britain is bringing a new approach to this meeting." It was a tacit acknowledgement that the last gathering, on the Pacific island of Samoa two years ago, went badly from the UK's perspective. Then, his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer had said before the meeting that reparations were not on the agenda, while other leaders insisted they should be.

This time the new prime minister has tried to get ahead of the argument and to speak directly to the anger some leaders felt after Samoa. In an article in the Guardian, he wrote that for years Commonwealth members affected by the slave trade have asked for an honest conversation about the legacies of slavery. "By sticking our heads in the sand," he argued, "we have damaged the ability of the Commonwealth to function."

Burnham, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and former prime minister Gordon Brown are all involved in conversations they hope will take the heat out of the reparations debate. The line they are holding is firm: the UK will not pay reparations, but is likely to apologise formally for the first time next year, when it holds the rotating presidency of the G20. In a social media video, Miliband said a formal apology is something the British government is "open to" and called it a "significant step". He added that the government does not believe financial reparations are the right or feasible answer to transatlantic slavery, and does not think British taxpayers today should be asked to make payments for historic acts.

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has urged Burnham not to apologise. She said she does not think any money should go to compensate people for the slave trade, and does not think Burnham needs to apologise "because it is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash."

British officials remain hopeful, even confident, that the approach will open room over the next two days for a wider conversation with other Commonwealth countries. Number 10 also said the UK would lead two new task forces: one on critical mineral assets and supply-chain vulnerabilities across the group, the other on boosting trade and investment more broadly. Both are to be set up by the end of the year and report back at the next leaders' summit.

Behind the effort is a plain diplomatic calculation. British diplomats see the Commonwealth as a useful forum for talking with developing countries, and, crucially, one that does not include China, America or Russia. Over the next two days in Antigua, the test is whether an apology without payment is enough to hold that forum together.