What can Britain learn from backlash to Dutch slavery apology?

In the Netherlands many felt the move, while welcome, was mishandled and exclusionary, mirroring past inequality

Andy Burnham’s pledge to seek a “structured dialogue” with former colonies to help shape Britain’s first formal state apology for slavery marks the UK’s first tentative step down a path the Netherlands set out on five years ago.

The prime minister’s attempts to initiate a historic shift alongside the royal family – whose customary expressions of “profound personal sorrow”, falling short of an apology, was repeated by King Charles this week – echo a process begun by the Dutch state in 2021.

As London weighs its words, while firmly ruling out any support for reparations, the Dutch experience may provide a preview: in the Netherlands, apologising did not draw a line under the past…