UK considers apologizing for slave trade

LONDON

Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham attends a meeting on October 30, 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Getty Images)

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is open to making a formal apology for Britain's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, a significant shift in the U.K.'s position in a long-running debate on whether — and how — the country should right the wrongs of its past.

Ahead of his meeting with Commonwealth leaders in the Caribbean this week, Burnham said it is the “right thing to do” to have an honest conversation about the legacies of slavery instead of “sticking our heads in the sand.”

While he rejected calls for the U.K. to pay reparations, Burnham proposed leading a program of debt restructuring to help the poorest countries in the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent nations that grew out of the British Empire.

Burnham will consider demands for investment in healthcare and education from African and Caribbean countries, according to the Telegraph.

His stance received a cautious welcome, but the thorny issue of repayments remains unresolved.

“An apology is an essential first step," a trade bloc of Caribbean countries known as Caricom said in a statement on Oct. 31 in response to Burnham's comments. “But an apology without repair is incomplete.”

The U.K. has never formally apologized for its role in the trade, though some British institutions including the Church of England have started to own up to the parts they played.