Apology in reach, payments ruled out
Andy Burnham has indicated he would listen to appeals for Britain to formally apologise for its part in the transatlantic slave trade, but he has closed the door on financial reparations. The prime minister said he favoured a structured dialogue with people affected by the trade and was willing to hear requests for an official apology, describing such listening as a key element of the process. He argued that compensation payments would not be the correct response.[S1][S3][S5][S7][S8]
Writing in the Guardian, Burnham argued that people living in Britain now should not be blamed for wrongs done long ago, under different laws, in which they played no part. He called the shipping of Africans to the Americas a brutal and barbaric violation and said the country must face up to its past. A government source told the BBC that this was morally the right approach.[S1]
Summit looms as Caribbean demands persist
The remarks land shortly before Burnham travels to the Caribbean for a gathering of Commonwealth leaders. Countries in the region have restated their demand that Britain apologise for its historical role and pay reparations, a push that has gathered pace while King Charles III tours the area. London sees a stronger Commonwealth as serving British interests at a time when China and Russia are competing for influence; Vladimir Putin held a Russia-Africa summit in Moscow the same week.[S1][S6]
Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, has campaigned for reparations and responded positively to Burnham's position, saying she would work in good faith while continuing to pursue reparatory justice. Denis O'Brien, who founded The Repair Campaign, took the opposite view, calling the statement a disappointment that fell short of what was needed and urging the British government to issue a full and formal apology without delay as a symbolic first move toward reparatory justice.[S1]
A long history behind the argument
From the sixteenth century onward, English authorities and the monarchy were major players in the trade that endured for centuries. Britain also had a leading role in ending it, through an 1833 act of Parliament abolishing slavery. Under that law, owners of plantations in the British colonies received compensation for the enslaved people they lost, and the United Kingdom did not finish servicing the debt raised to fund those payments until 2015. No British government has ever issued a formal apology for slavery or proposed reparations.[S1]
