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Before Commonwealth meeting: Burnham open to apology for slavery
Prime Minister Andy Burnham may envisage an official pardon for Britain's role in transatlantic human trafficking. However, he excludes reparations payments. more...
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dpa | In the decades-long dispute over Britain's handling of its own role in the slave trade, Prime Minister Andy Burnham is open to an official apology. However, like his predecessors, the head of government rules out reparations. “We led the world in abolishing slavery – and we can show leadership again today,” Burnham wrote in The Guardian newspaper.
The Prime Minister is attending next week's meeting of heads of government of Commonwealth nations in the Caribbean. The sensitive issue of slavery during the British colonial period was most recently highlighted by the trip of King Charles III. returned to the Caribbean. Several Caribbean countries are demanding that the British apologize and make reparations for their role in selling enslaved people for profit.
“I want to express my condolences and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions and recognize how this continues to shape our world today,” Burnham wrote. The British government is offering a structured dialogue with all those affected. “Hearing calls for an official apology on behalf of the British state will be an important part of this process and I am open to that.”
But he does not believe that “the British of today can be held responsible for historical injustice, however heinous it may be,” said Burnham. Reparations payments are not “the right answer”. Great Britain was a leading slave trading power, particularly in the 18th century. As part of the transatlantic human trafficking, it is estimated that around three million Africans were transported by English ships to the Caribbean and North and South America.
The head of government of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, welcomed the British Prime Minister's statements. Barbados is committed to this dialogue and will participate in good faith, she wrote in a statement distributed on the X platform. Mottley also reiterated that views on the issue of reparations differed. “We should build on this common ground as we continue to talk about our differences,” she wrote.