Burnham is to hand Caribbean nations £40m of taxpayers' cash as he prepares to apologise for Britain's role in slavery
Andy Burnham fell while playing cricket at the Commonwealth summit in Antigua, where he has ruled out reparations but launched structured talks on a formal slavery apology.Andy Burnham, Prime Minister, met King Charles at the Commonwealth Business Forum at the Sticky Wicket, as former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby branded the £40m taxpayer-funded allocation for Caribbean green energy and infrastructure a 'moral evil'.King Charles III at Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua and Barbuda, where he learned about efforts to protect the islands' natural and built heritage, as Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined efforts to build towards a formal slavery apology.Women at the Commonwealth Women's Forum, where survivors of abuse and political leaders from across the Commonwealth also gathered.On board HMS Wellington, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Britain should "stop apologising" for its role in the slave trade, as Burnham warned a formal UK apology is now expected next year when Britain holds the G20 presidency.Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who put her country's reparations entitlement at £3.2 trillion, met Burnham directly to discuss the structured dialogue opened at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua.
Burnham is to pledge a 'debt reset' for poorer Commonwealth nations while ruling out direct financial reparations, marking a sharp departure from Sir Keir Starmer's refusal to address slavery's legacy. The £40m infrastructure fund — drawn from existing budgets — will be directed at green energy and critical projects across the Caribbean over three years. Barbados PM Mia Mottley, who has put her country's owed sum at £3.2 trillion, has welcomed the offer of dialogue, though she cautioned that 'a dialogue that begins by placing reparations outside the room cannot be a complete dialogue.'
Politicians back home are furious, warning that a formal apology could open the door to multi-trillion-pound compensation claims.
King Charles is to speak with 'unflinching honesty' and 'sincere sorrow' at the summit opening but will NOT deliver the apology himself, leaving it to Burnham.
St Lucia's PM Philip J Pierre told Burnham 'no British prime minister has gone this far before' — and the Caribbean bloc is 'ready to engage.'
