UK signs up to ‘time-bound’ dialogue on slavery as summit closes
Commonwealth leaders ended their Antigua summit with an 18-page communiqué welcoming Britain’s agreement to “a structured, time-bound, inclusive and good-faith dialogue” on the transatlantic slave trade and its historical harms. No deadline is set, though Ed Miliband says the talks are likely to conclude within about a year, and Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda expects the framework to be settled by early next year. Andy Burnham has ruled out reparations but left an apology open.
Asked whether a formal apology might come by the time Britain hosts the G20 in Manchester next November, the Foreign Secretary told the BBC: “Broadly speaking, yes.” Mr Burnham called it “the most successful meeting of the Commonwealth in recent times” and said the King’s words had “resonated powerfully”; the King had told leaders that the trade was a “shameful chapter” that filled his heart “with horror”. Mr Browne said there was “consensus” on a way forward and praised the prime minister’s “courage and goodwill”, while making clear that “reparations must be part of this structured dialogue”. Britain has offered talks on debt resets and £40m for Caribbean infrastructure over three years; the Caricom reparations commission’s ten-point plan asks instead for “debt cancellation” and “monetary compensation”. Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincent, warned that development assistance cannot stand in for reparations. The gap between a dialogue Britain treats as time-limited and demands the region treats as open is where the next year’s argument lies.