Burnham 'open' to calls for slavery apology but not reparations

Prime Minister Andy Burnham says he is "open" to the possibility of the UK formally apologising for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, but has ruled out financial reparations. He said he wanted a "dialogue with those affected" and was open to "calls for an apology", but said reparations were "not the right answer". The statement was welcomed -Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Afrikan Reparations, with its chairwoman Bell Ribeiro-Adday telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme the issue was not just about money. It comes ahead of next week's Commonwealth leaders summit in the Caribbean. As King Charles III tours the region, there have been renewed calls for an apology. During the first leg of his tour in the Bahamas, the King made reference to the "suffering of the past". Later, in Guyana, he visited the site of a rebellion of enslaved people against British authorities. On Saturday, Burnham described the transatlantic slave trade, when Africans were trafficked to the Americas, as a "brutal and barbaric violation" and said Britain must "face up to the past". The British government has never formally apologised for slavery or offered to pay reparations. Burnham has stuck with the policy of his predecessors, and has stopped short of offering any consideration of reparation payments. "I do not think that British people today can be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, that happened in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part," Burnham wrote in a piece for the Guardian, external. He said Commonwealth countries had for years been asking for an "honest conversation". He said he wanted to offer a "structured dialogue", adding: "Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of this process. I am open to them." Chancellor John Healey told the BBC that Burnham was "open to a discussion" about an apology because it was "the right thing, particularly ahead of the Commonwealth heads conference". The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting starts on 1 November in Antigua, and will be opened . Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Healey said the prime minister does not think reparations are the right approach. He added that a formal apology doesn't mean British people should now "accept the financial liability for any part in things that happened hundreds of years ago in which they had no role". Downing Street believes it is in the UK's interest to strengthen the Commonwealth, in a world where China and Russia are seeking to exert influence.