The UK is open to a formal apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade but rejects reparations.

In a Guardian article ahead of a Commonwealth leaders’ summit where the subject is expected to dominate, Andy Burnham went further than any previous prime minister toward offering a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, but rejected demands from Caribbean countries and campaigners for financial reparations, maintaining the position of successive governments that British people today cannot be held liable for the past.