UK Considers Apologizing for Role in Slave Trade

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that his government will, for the first time, consider issuing an apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, as part of efforts to strengthen ties with African and Caribbean nations.

In an article published in The Guardian on Saturday, Burnham said Britain needed to acknowledge its “complex history” to safeguard the Commonwealth, a group of 56 independent countries that emerged from the British Empire.

Burnham stated, “For years, Commonwealth members affected by the slave trade have called for an honest dialogue about the legacy of slavery. Hiding our heads in the sand has damaged the Commonwealth’s ability to carry out its mission.”

He added that his government would initiate a “structural dialogue” with those affected by slavery and listen to calls for an official state apology. However, he stressed that Britain would continue to reject demands for financial compensation for the slave trade.

Burnham concluded, “I do not believe that the British people today should be held responsible for historical wrongs, however heinous, committed in a different era under different laws, in which they had no personal involvement.”