Speaking on the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Miliband said the government wanted to confront Britain’s historical involvement in slavery without imposing additional costs on British taxpayers, Anadolu agency reported.
***
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out paying reparations to countries affected by the slave trade but has not clarified whether the government’s new approach could involve additional public spending.
Miliband criticized former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s handling of the issue in 2007, describing it as a “sorry not sorry situation.”
Blair had expressed “deep sorrow and regret” over Britain’s involvement in the slave trade, but Downing Street subsequently distanced itself from his remarks, according to Miliband.
The foreign secretary said the issue had continued to affect relations within the Commonwealth and was raised during a recent conversation between Burnham and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
“This has really been hanging around as an issue for the Commonwealth for sort of 20 years, really. But it’s grown and grown,” he said.
Miliband also recalled tensions at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, where disagreements over slavery and its legacy sparked heated exchanges.
“To use sort of diplomatic speak, it ended up in a sort of punch up, a sort of verbal punch up about this whole issue,” he said.
He said he and Burnham had agreed that the government needed to address the issue rather than continue avoiding it.
