Britain has agreed to structured, time-bound talks with Commonwealth countries on the historical harms of the transatlantic slave trade, in a shift agreed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda.

The commitment was recorded in the summit's 18-page communique, which welcomed the UK's agreement to a "structured, time-bound, inclusive and good-faith" dialogue with affected parties on the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and its historical harms.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who attended the summit alongside the King, has said Britain is open to a formal apology for its role in the slave trade. Britain has never formally apologised for its role in the global slave trade.

Reparations ruled out

Mr Burnham has ruled out paying financial reparations. Writing in the Guardian, he said he did not think British people today could be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, which happened in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said a formal apology was something "the British government are open to". He suggested the discussions were likely to finish in around a year, and when asked by BBC Newscast whether that could mean an apology by the time Britain hosts the G20 leaders' summit in Manchester next November, he replied: "Broadly speaking, yes."

No fixed deadline yet

Officials said the timetable would be settled later, leaving no fixed completion date. The communique said the time had come for a "meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity".

King Charles, opening the summit, said the slave trade fills him with "horror" and "the most profound personal sorrow". He did not apologise. Reparations dominated the build-up, where civil society protests also called for an apology and reparations.

Sources: BBC News, UK agrees to talks on harms of the transatlantic slave trade but PM rules out reparations, 5 November 2026; Sky News, UK agrees to talks on harms of the transatlantic slave trade, 5 November 2026.