Although he ruled out monetary compensation, Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated on Saturday that he was “open” to the UK formally apologising for its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. He promised to have “difficult conversations to safeguard the Commonwealth for the future” in response to pressure on London to formally apologise for its crucial role in the trade and compensate Caribbean countries.
Although Burnham stated that he wished 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 maintained that compensation was not “the right answer.”He stated in the opinion piece, “I do not think that British people today can be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, that occurred in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part.”
The UK PM also stated that the transatlantic slave trade was a “brutal and barbaric violation” of the rights of enslaved people and offered a “structured dialogue with those affected.”An essential component of this process will be listening to pleas for a formal apology on behalf of the British state, and I am receptive to them. Burnham also disclosed that he intended to start a new debt restructuring initiative headed by former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown for the weakest Commonwealth nations.
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