Burnham Is Open to an Apology for Slavery but Rules Out Reparations
Seven Lights
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Saturday he was “open” to the United Kingdom issuing a formal apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, while ruling out financial reparations.
Writing in The Guardian, Mr. Burnham said he wanted “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.” He called the trade a “brutal and barbaric violation” of the rights of those enslaved and said Britain profited for centuries from colonialism and slavery.
The remarks came days before Mr. Burnham attends the Commonwealth leaders summit in Antigua and Barbuda, which runs November 1 to 4, and as King Charles III tours the Caribbean. Britain has never formally apologised for slavery or agreed to pay reparations, and the issue has loomed over the royal visit.
Mr. Burnham offered a “structured dialogue with those affected,” adding: “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.” On compensation he was explicit: “I do not believe that is the right answer.” He continued, “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.”
Parliament abolished slavery across the empire with the law of 1833. Caribbean governments and advocacy groups have pressed London for a state apology and reparatory justice, and the question is expected to dominate the summit agenda, where the king is due to address the heads of government.
The prime minister also said his government would launch a debt restructuring drive for the poorest Commonwealth countries, to be led by the former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, working with partners to let those nations repay over a longer period and at better rates.
The summit opens Tuesday in St John’s. Whether any apology would come from the government or the crown during the tour had not been announced.