UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled the government’s openness to apologize for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade as the country seeks to strengthen ties with nations in the Caribbean and Africa.

Ahead of next week’s Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda, Burnham argued in a Guardian column published Saturday that Britain must face its complex past.

He emphasized that acknowledging this history is essential to sustaining the 56-member organization, which evolved from the former British........

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