Burnham ‘open’ to formal apology for Britain’s slave trade

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “open” to calls for the British state to formally apologize for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. Burnham offered a “structured dialogue with those affected” by the slave trade in an opinion piece for the Guardian , published ahead of a summit of Commonwealth countries starting Sunday. “Having these difficult conversations to safeguard the Commonwealth for the future is the right thing to do. It is also the patriotic thing to do,” Burnham wrote. However, he rejected demands from Caribbean countries for Britain to pay financial reparations for the slave trade, saying that they would be the wrong solution.