The UK's stance on its role in the slave trade is shifting, but reparations remain off the table

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is open to making a formal apology for Britain's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, a significant shift in the U.K.'s position in a long-running debate on whether — and how — the country should right the wrongs of its past.

Ahead of his meeting with Commonwealth leaders in the Caribbean this week, Burnham said it is the “right thing to do” to have an honest conversation about the legacies of slavery instead of “sticking our heads in the sand.”

While he rejected calls for the U.K. to pay reparations, Burnham proposed leading a program of debt restructuring to help the poorest countries in the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent nations that grew out of the British Empire.

His stance received a cautious welcome, but the thorny issue of repayments remains unresolved.

“An apology is an essential first step," a trade bloc of Caribbean countries known as Caricom said in a statement Saturday in response to Burnham's comments. “But an apology without repair is incomplete.”

The Netherlands in 2022 apologized for its role in the slave trade, but no country has paid financial reparations to nations affected by slavery or enslaved people and their descendants.

The U.K. has never formally apologized for its role in the trade, though some British institutions including the Church of England have started to own up to the parts they played.

Here's a look at the history behind the debate and where things stand:

Britain became involved in the slave trade in the mid-1500s, following Portugal and Spain. At its height, Britain was the world’s biggest slave-trading nation and transported more than 3 million Africans across the Atlantic.

Goods were traded in West Africa for captured slaves who were shipped across the Atlantic to work on British sugar and tobacco plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas. Goods produced in the so-called New World were transported back to England.

In the 17th century, the Royal African Company, established under King Charles II and run by his brother, who later became King James II, trafficked 80,000 African men, women and children to slavery in the Americas. About 20,000 died before the company's monopoly on the English slave trade ended in 1698, when any Englishman could trade slaves.

An abolitionist movement arose in England in the late 1700s, supported by Quakers, some politicians and former slaves.

U.K. politicians have traditionally focused on the country’s role in banning the slave trade in 1807 and outlawing slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833, a movement that helped spur other abolitionist drives elsewhere.

But Burnham said it is now time for the country to face up to the other side of the story. “We are a country where brave people led the way in abolishing slavery, but we are also a country that participated in the trade in human lives,” he wrote in a piece in the Guardian published Friday.

For decades, Caribbean countries have demanded reparations from Britain. Studies estimate Britain would owe between hundreds of millions and trillions of dollars in compensation to descendants of slaves.

Burnham rejected the idea, in keeping with previous U.K. governments.

“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,” he said.

Instead, he said he will work with other wealthy nations and investors to help poorer countries repay their high levels of debt over a longer period and at lower interest rates. Burnham said he is bringing in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to help with this work.

King Charles III, who is on a nine-day visit to the Caribbean, acknowledged “the great suffering and injustices of the past" this week.

But the king, who remains head of state of several Caribbean nations, did not go further in addressing direct demands from the region's leaders for an apology and reparations.

Meanwhile, the opposition Conservative Party argued that Britain should not even offer an apology.

“I don’t think that Andy Burnham needs to be apologizing because it is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash,” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Sunday.

Philip J. Pierre, the prime minister of Saint Lucia and chair of Caricom, said he welcomed Burnham's consideration of a formal apology and his offer of a “structured dialogue” with affected nations.

“No British prime minister has gone this far before ... we are ready to engage," he wrote. But he added: “A dialogue that begins by placing reparations outside the room cannot be a complete dialogue.”

Pierre reiterated that Caribbean nations are seeking education and public health improvements; development programs for Indigenous people; repatriation and resettlement for those seeking to live in their homeland; debt cancellation and monetary compensation, among other things.

“Debt relief, however welcome, cannot be offered as a substitute for reparatory justice,” he said.

Britain's King Charles III deplanes at Lynden Pindling Airport in Nassau, Bahamas, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Aylen)

Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Thomas Krych)

Britain's King Charles III shakes traditional cowbells as he parades with Junkanoo dancers flanked by Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Jomo Campbell, left, and Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Leslia Brice, right, during a cultural festival in Rawson Square, Nassau, Bahamas, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Aylen)

Britain's King Charles III, left, and Guyana's Prime Minister Mark Anthony Phillip, right, attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves in Georgetown, Guyana, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Delano Williams)

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Exit polls in Bulgaria suggest that Iliana Yotova is the apparent winner in the country’s presidential runoff. Partial official results are expected later Sunday.

Surveys by several polling organizations give Yotova about 52% of the vote. If confirmed by official results, she would become Bulgaria’s first elected female head of state.

Former interim Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov, backed by reformist pro-Western opposition parties, is said to be trailing with around 44%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Bulgarians voted on Sunday in a presidential runoff marked by regional security threats and economic worries at home.

Acting President Iliana Yotova — who would become Bulgaria’s first elected female president if she wins — faces opposition candidate and former interim Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov. Yotova beat Gyurov by a narrow margin of 2.8 percentage points in the first round of voting on Oct. 25, which drew record low turnout — only 23% of eligible voters cast a ballot, according to election officials.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. for another highly polarized contest in which the candidates will be trying to attract voters with contrasting political visions. The first exit poll results are expected after polls close at 8 p.m., with official results to be announced Monday.

Bulgarians are voting against a backdrop of growing economic hardship and increased drone attacks on Black Sea shipping, which have left several sailors dead or missing.

Yotova is running as an independent. As vice president, she automatically became acting president earlier this year when the former head of state, Rumen Radev, resigned to lead his party to victory in the general election.

The vote is the first major test for Prime Minister Radev’s Moscow-friendly Progressive Bulgaria party, which has endorsed Yotova.

Yotova is expected to continue Radev’s policy of keeping Bulgaria on its European path, while also supporting better relations with Russia and the lifting of sanctions.

Both Yotova and Radev have called for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Ukraine but remain evasive about possible Russian involvement in drone attacks in the Black Sea region.

During a TV debate between the two presidential contenders this week, Yotova advocated a settlement involving both Ukraine and Russia, saying that “peace could come only through negotiations.” She also proposed a security meeting involving all six Black Sea countries to sign a moratorium on hostilities.

Observers say that a victory for Yotova would keep the presidency in the hands of the ruling majority. Such a concentration of power could prevent the effective maintenance of checks and balances on policy decisions by institutions, they say.

Yotova’s challenger is economist Gyurov, a former deputy governor of the central bank and caretaker prime minister who led the country in early 2026. He is backed by the pro-Western, reformist opposition.

Gyurov has often expressed firm support for Ukraine and signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv during his premiership.

Gyurov said he wants Bulgaria to be a reliable NATO ally able to stand for up its interests with strong diplomacy and a firm position.

Gyurov criticized the government for being reluctant to name Russia as the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine war. He called for identifying the threat and for Bulgarian participation in EU decisions from the outset.

“When you have no position and are not at the table, you are in fact on the menu,” he said.

Front pages of Bulgarian newspapers display the results of the first round of the presidential election in Sofia, Bulgaria, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, as incumbent leftist Iliana Yotova and pro-Western reformist Andrey Gyurov advance to a Nov. 1 runoff following record-low voter turnout amid widespread political distrust. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Incumbent President and presidential candidate Iliana Yotova speaks to journalists after polls close in Sofia, Bulgaria, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)