BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Barbados is prepared to enter discussions with the United Kingdom on the legacy of slavery, including the possibility of a formal apology, but Prime Minister Mia Mottley says the two sides still have differences over reparations.

In a statement responding to remarks by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who ruled out financial reparations for the slave trade, but said he is “open” to calls for Britain to formally apologise for its role in it.

Mottley welcomed his acknowledgement of the transatlantic slave trade as a “brutal and barbaric violation of human beings” and his offer to begin structured talks.

She said Barbados would take part in the discussions through CARICOM, while pointing to the 2024 Commonwealth meeting in Samoa, where then UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer joined other leaders in agreeing that the time had come for meaningful conversations on reparatory justice.

Mottley said Barbados’ own history made the issue particularly significant. In 1661, under English colonial rule, the island became the site of the first comprehensive slave code in the English-speaking world.

The law classified African men, women and children as property and served as a model for similar legislation elsewhere.

While Barbados and the UK may not agree on every aspect of reparations, Mottley said that should not prevent progress on other issues, including an apology, tackling anti-Black racism and Afrophobia, investment in health and education, and development partnerships to address poverty and inequality.

She also called for fairer debt arrangements for vulnerable countries, pointing to the Bridgetown Initiative, and identified CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice as a framework for the discussions.

Mottley thanked Burnham and UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband for advancing the issue, saying the next stage of engagement was necessary despite its difficult and emotional nature.