Ahead of a meeting with Commonwealth leaders, Andy Burnham wrote that Britain needed to ‘acknowledge its complicated history’
Chief secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenChief secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/ShutterstockKey events6m agoBritain trafficked enslaved African people for centuries; kings and queens were investors40m agoBadenoch rejects apology idea, saying 'when will the demands stop?'1h agoCaribbean leaders welcome 'significant development' of apology move1h agoBurnham open to issuing apology over Britain's role in slave trade2h agoOpeningThe Guardian has done extensive reporting on Britain’s centuries-long trafficking of enslaved African people, a policy that was supported by parliament and the monarchy from the 1560s-1807.
Britain’s trafficking operations – which included royal companies led by kings and, later, entrepreneurs in Bristol, Liverpool and other port cities, violently transported more than 3 million enslaved African men, women and children to colonial plantations in the Americas and Caribbean.
My colleague, David Conn, has been reporting on new research documenting the immense scale of these operations.
The Register of British Slave Traders, the product of a three-year project by a team of specialist historians, documents the investors in Britain’s near 250-year transatlantic slave trade.
It shows the relentless involvement of the British monarchy, parliament and financial and business elites; the role of the church in legitimising it; and how the investors’ wealth was woven deep into the country’s fabric and used to fund hospitals, schools, welfare organisations, the arts, science and culture.
A series of British kings and queens were leaders and investors in the trafficking of enslaved African people;
More than 100 MPs were investors in slave-trading companies, including scores in the Tory and Whig parties – the forerunners of today’s Conservatives and Liberal Democrats;
Dozens of directors and original financiers of the Bank of England were investors in the slave trade;
More than 1,000 women invested in slave-trading companies;
Forty-five Church of England clergymen were investors in the slave-trading Royal African Company.
The publication of the register last month will provide further evidence for the growing global movement calling on European governments to acknowledge their perpetration of enslavement, issue a full, formal apology and engage positively with discussions for reparatory justice.
Successive British governments have refused to do so, arguing there is no duty to make reparations because enslavement and the slave trade were not against the law at the time.
On the slave trade apology, Badenoch repeats what she wrote on X yesterday, dismissing the discussion as “naval gazing”.
She also claims that “We have apologised. Tony Blair apologised twice.”
I assume she’s referring to Blair’s statements in 2006 and 2007, around the 200th anniversary of the British abolition of the slave trade, where the then PM expressed “deep sorrow and regret”, calling the slave trade trade “profoundly shameful” and a “crime against humanity”.
These statements stop short of an actual apology though. Blair avoided this, just like King Charles did earlier this week, partly due to the concerns that an explicit, formal apology for past wrongdoing could open the door to legal and financial claims.
Badenoch tells Kuennsberg she believes the call is coming now because “many of these [Commonwealth] countries are struggling with the same issues that we’re struggling with. They’re not becoming richer. They don’t know what to do, so they want to ask Britain for more money.”
When Kuennsberg says that the government is just talking about an apology, and has ruled out financial reparations, Badenoch goes:
When will the demands stop? What about if they ask for it next year? How many apologies are needed? Everyone knows the transatlantic slave trade was wrong. Britain played a huge role in stopping it.
The problem with this endless talk about apologies is that it is a distraction. It then means that people start focusing on things that happen hundreds of years ago, instead of solving today’s problems.
Badenoch also rejects the idea of rejoining the EU as a potential solution for the UK economy, no matter how popular it’s currently tracking in the polls
“I have been very clear, under my leadership, the Conservative Party is not joining the EU,” she says.
“I can’t even believe that we are reopening this debate. This is not something that is needed in order to cut welfare, in order to spend money on defence.
I’m not interested in magical thinking, i do not want to indulge in Andy Burnham’s fantasies about redoing the referendum, because he doesn’t have a plan for what to do today. He keeps talking about things what will happen after the next election. Where is this plan for now? We had a budget that did not do very much last week.
Badenoch is on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuennsberg show now, putting forward the Tory’s alternative budget vision.
She’s defending the Tory policy of scrapping inheritance tax on family homes, and saying that the Conservatives’ main offer to voters is on “fiscal responsibility” and “living within our means”.
She says that the Tories have found £70bn in savings – “the bulk of those savings have to come from welfare”.
She also argues that the money would be found in reducing the size of the civil service. “We have talked about reducing budgets in departments like DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sports).”
She also suggests cutting out government work duplication, singling out the environment agency and Natural England – the government adviser and public body for protecting and improving the environment.
“We have to start looking at what government actually does. There is a lot of stuff that government does, that it doesn’t need to do.”
Burnham’s consideration of a formal apology has been welcomed by leaders of Caribbean nations, but differences remain on reparations.
Barbados’ prime minister, Mia Mottley, welcomed Burnham’s acknowledgment of the “brutality of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, his openness to a formal apology and his offer of structured dialogue”.
She noted the different approach on reparations – Burnham has ruled this out entirely- but said:
Those differences should not prevent progress on health, education, tackling poverty and inequality, and fairer debt terms for vulnerable states.
Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda called Burnham’s comments a “significant and welcome development”. He reiterated calls for reparation but said this could be addressed.
The Caribbean’s longstanding position on reparatory justice remains unchanged. Differences over financial compensation should be addressed through dialogue, but they need not prevent progress in areas where agreement is possible.
Andy Burnham says the UK will listen to calls to issue a formal apology, but doesn’t believe that reparations is the “right answer”.
He argued yesterday in The Guardian that Britain needs to acknowledge its “complicated history” in order to protect the Commonwealth, the 56 nations that grew out of the British Empire.
He’s headed to Antigua and Babuda in coming days. King Charles has been in the Caribbean this week where he’s faced calls for Britain to apologise and pay reparations.
The King, whose forebears directly benefited from trafficking of enslaved people, admitted the “great suffering and injustices of the past” but did not issue an apology. It is UK government policy currently, to not apologise for the country’s role in the slave trade.
The British state hugely benefited from the slave trade before it was outlawed in 1807. British enslavement of people on plantations and in colonies like the Caribbean continued until 1833.
Burnham, introducing a potential change in his column yesterday, wrote:
The Britain I believe in is confident, decent and brave. We led the world in abolishing slavery – and we can show leadership again today.
For years, those members of the Commonwealth affected by the slave trade have asked for an honest conversation about the legacies of slavery.
He said his government is offering to begin a “structured dialogue” with those affected by slavery – but ruled out financial compensation for past wrongs.
but Burnham says that “British people today” cannot be held liable for historic wrongs, “in which they played no personal part”.
Instead he said he would launch a new drive to restructure debt for the poorest Commonwealth countries – that would be led by former PM Gordon Brown – that would help them repay debt under more favourable conditions.
Good morning and welcome to our Sunday UK politics blog.
Budget week conversation has moved on a bit; Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is doing the rounds of the politics shows this morning and she has an op-ed in the Telegraph railing against the delayed defence spending commitment, claiming instead that the Conservatives could find that spend their usual way- cutting welfare spending and lowering taxes.
But she’s also criticised the PM’s announcement yesterday in the Guardian that the government is considering a formal apology for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Andy Burnham, who is heading to the Caribbean next week for a Commonwealth leaders meeting, wrote in a column that Britain needed to “acknowledge its complicated history” but rejected the idea of financial reparations.
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.
Cabinet minister Emma Reynolds has repeated to Sky News this morning that an apology is symbolically powerful, but it wouldn’t lead to financial reparations.
Let me be very clear that will not involve financial reparations, because the British people today shouldn’t be held liable for historic wrongs, wrongs that they had no part in.
I’ll have more on that shortly, including the reaction from Commonwealth leaders.
Fox Style News Syndicate. Sourced from broadcast reporting: Read Full Source Coverage.