Ed Miliband slams Tony Blair's 'sorry not sorry' on slavery and insists a formal apology will not cost taxpayers
King Charles III, whose remarks drew no commitment to reparations, with Buckingham Palace insisting he would not be responsible for delivering any apology.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.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.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'.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.Queen Camilla met women advocating for others across the Commonwealth, including survivors of abuse, as Andy Burnham separately opened formal slavery apology talks at the Antigua summit.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband attacked Tony Blair for his "sorry not sorry" approach to slavery, citing Blair's 2007 remarks expressing "deep sorrow and regret" that were then walked back by Downing Street. Miliband insisted a formal apology would not cost the taxpayer a penny, though Prime Minister Andy Burnham has refused to rule out additional Commonwealth funding.
Burnham told reporters in Antigua he would not commit to a single extra penny in reparations, but declined to guarantee no extra funding for Commonwealth development or debt relief.
Miliband said Blair's half-hearted stance was raised directly when Burnham met Barbados PM Mia Mottley, illustrating how the unresolved issue had festered for two decades.
King Charles told Commonwealth leaders in St John's the slave trade 'fills my heart with horror' but stopped short of a formal apology, while the UK has quietly slashed Commonwealth aid from £546m to £131m by 2028-29.
