I’m going to wrap up the blog there, thanks for reading. The chancellor, John Healey repeats the PM’s argument that the UK will not pay reparations for its role in perpetuating transatlantic enslavement for nearly 250 years because British people today shouldn’t have to pay for historical wrongdoings Andy Burnham has said however that the UK could be open to issuing a formal apology, a move that goes further than previous British governments He and King Charles – currently on a Caribbean tour -are due to meet heads of state at a Commonwealth leaders meeting later this week in Antigua and Barbuda where accountability is a top issue The Caribbean countries have been pushing for Britain to apologise for the slave trade and engage in ‘repatory justice’ discussions; King Charles faced demonstrations last week in Guyana Their leaders have largely welcomed Burnham’s apology announcement as an important first step; but disagree on the lack of reparations Meanwhile Tory leader Kemi Badenoch say
John Healey says UK apology over historic role in slave trade won’t lead to financial reparations – as it happened
Ahead of a meeting with Commonwealth leaders, Andy Burnham wrote that Britain needed to ‘acknowledge its complicated history’
