Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is "open" to the possibility of the UK issuing a formal apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, but has ruled out considering financial reparations.

Burham said he wanted a "dialogue with those affected by the slave trade" and was open to "calls for an apology".

He dismissed the idea of paying financial reparations, saying they were "not the right answer".

The comments come ahead of a Commonwealth leaders summit in the Caribbean next week, which Burnham will attend. Caribbean nations have renewed calls for the UK to apologise for its role in the slave trade, and for reparations, as King Charles III tours the region .

Burham described the transatlantic slave trade, when Africans were trafficked to the Americas, as a "brutal and barbaric violation" and said Britain must "face up to the past".

The British government has never formally apologised for slavery or offered to pay reparations.…