Left-wing MPs including Jeremy Corbyn have been heaping pressure on Andy Burnham over slavery reparations after he opened the door to making an official apology.
The PM is heading for a Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda that could be dominated by the issue.
Mr Burnham signalled a major shift in the UK's stance over the weekend, insisting he wanted a 'structured dialogue' with those affected by slavery.
'Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of this process. I am open to them,' he wrote in the Guardian.
Mr Burnham rejected calls for cash reparations - floating debt write offs and downgrades instead.
There are also signs the Government is prepared to fund health, education and Net Zero projects in Commonwealth states, although officials stressed if that happened it would come from existing aid budgets.
However, the UK is being urged to go further by MPs, regardless of the cost to the country. Former Labour leader Mr Corbyn said Britain must 'face up to the shameful role it played in the slave trade - and confront the lasting legacy it left behind'.
Andy Burnham is heading for a Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda that could be dominated by the issue of slavery reparations
The King meeting the PM of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, yesterday
In a video posted on social media, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband - who is attending the summit - said a formal apology would be a 'significant step'.
But he insisted: 'We don't believe that financial reparations are the right or feasible answer to transatlantic slavery.
'We don't think the right response is to ask British taxpayers today to make financial payments for these historic acts.
'We do however want to focus on meaningful, practical cooperation - which includes education and cultural exchange, and how we can work together on the mutual issues of climate resilience, development and economic opportunity.'
Mr Corbyn - now in struggling political start-up Your Party - posted on social media linking to an article he wrote for the Morning Star last month.
Demanding a 'national reckoning with our colonial past', he argued in the piece that the UK's foundations were 'built on the backs of others', adding: 'Wealth that is still enjoyed - and owed - to this day.'
Mr Corbyn said reparations were 'about investing resources in those countries who have been held in economic bondage ever since the first slave ships arrived on their shores'.
'Reparations are not just about returning artefacts to their rightful owners,' he said.
'Nor are they just about a lump sum payment.
'They are about transforming a global economic system that, to this day, impoverishes and exploits the descendants of colonial rule.
'Tangibly, that means cancelling debts in the global South, which are trapping countries in cycles of repayment, and wasting resources that could be going to healthcare and education.
'That means introducing a global wealth tax.
'That means ending trade agreements that undermine labour standards and exploit those who keep the world fed, moving and connected.
'That means curtailing the power of institutions like the IMF and the World Bank so that local communities can decide their own economic future.'
Mr Corbyn said aid to countries affected by the slave trade could not be 'subservient to Britain's own diplomatic, military or business interests'.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, head of the all-party Parliamentary group on Afrikan Reparations, said an apology must be the prelude to 'concrete steps' on addressing the responsibility of the UK state.
That must go wider than simply financial reparations, she argued.
'Nobody is asking the average British person to take responsibility for African chattel enslavement,' Ms Ribeiro-Addy posted on social media.
'This is about the British state, which protected and profited from it.
'Reparations is not something you simply write a cheque for, it's an ongoing process of repair that must begin with an apology.'
Senior Labour backbencher Meg Hillier told the BBC's Westminster Hour there was a 'live discussion' about reparations.
'It was only earlier this year that the UN passed a motion for reparations and the British position changed. It didn't oppose it, it abstained,' she said.
'This is a very live discussion.'
Dame Meg stressed reparations were not just about 'writing a cheque'.
'It's about working together... I guess you could say it's a bit like in Europe where the poorer countries benefited from being part of that,' she said.
Dame Meg said there were hopes the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit would see 'some discussion that will edge things along'.
'I think the PM is probably leaning into it for that reason,' she added.
PM gets picked up by RAF from Manchester for trip to Antigua
Andy Burnham was picked up by a Government jet from Manchester to head for the Commonwealth summit.
The flight took off from London Stansted at around 6am for Antigua and Barbuda without Mr Burnham on board.
He was collected from Manchester around half-an-hour later.
The plane was grounded for around an hour before setting off again via Canada for a refuelling stop.
A No10 spokesman said it was a 'reflection' of the fact that Mr Burnham was in Scotland last week and then went to No10 North on Friday.
'The PM's travel arrangements are made on the basis of security, operational requirements, and value for money for the taxpayer,' the spokesman said.
'The Prime Minister's travel arrangements reflect where he was carrying out official government business at the end of last week.
'As you know, he spent the day in Scotland on Friday, returned to Manchester to work from Number 10 North on Friday evening. In terms of costs, travel costs will be published in the usual way.'
Labour MP Nadia Whittome said over the weekend that the British state 'needs to move beyond warm words and confront our imperial past, so that we can build an anti-racist future'.
'That means heeding calls for reparatory justice and tackling systemic racism across our institutions,' she added.
Green MP Carla Denyer posted on the BlueSky social media site: 'Personal remorse and words from the Prime Minister for what the UN called 'the gravest crime against humanity' is not nearly enough. The United Kingdom played a major role in the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans...
'A great deal of the wealth of the United Kingdom was founded on this vile crime against humanity, and the legacies of chattel, colonial and neocolonial forms of enslavement are still prevalent in our society today.
'The @greenparty.org.uk calls on the Prime Minister to commit the UK government to set up a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth and Reparatory Justice, to address the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans that the UN described as the gravest crime against humanity.'
However, the Tories and Reform have dismissed the idea of compensation for a slave trade that ended centuries ago, pointing out that human history is littered with examples of unfairness and abuse that would need to be reopened on the same principles.
Shadow frontbencher Ben Obese-Jecty said the UK funding health and education in Commonwealth countries would effectively be reparations.
'Anyone who's actually read the CARICOM 10-point plan for reparatory justice will recognise that these are the steps the reparatory justice movement is demanding,' he said.
'Andy Burnham, either through ignorance because, as ever, he isn't across the detail or by stealth because he can sneak it through, is opening the door to fulfilling demands for reparations whilst the media is distracted by what it *thinks* reparations are, rather than what they *actually* are.'
Mr Burnham's intervention has led to speculation as to whether the King, who is head of the Commonwealth, will be forced to make a public apology on behalf of Britain.
The monarch is due to make a keynote speech to the gathering of leaders in Antigua tomorrow.
Royal sources insisted the Palace had been informed about Mr Burnham's words in a 'timely manner' and insisted that no alterations will have to be made to the King's CHOGM speech or programme.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, head of an all-party Parliamentary group on Afrikan Reparations, said an apology must be the prelude to 'concrete steps' on addressing the responsibility of the UK state
A No10 source said the Palace had been aware of Mr Burnham's words as part of the 'usual dialogue' with the Government, and echoed the Palace's words about them being informed in a 'timely manner', adding: 'It would be incorrect to suggest otherwise.'
Kemi Badenoch has suggested the UK might need to boycott Commonwealth summits if they become 'an exercise in presenting Britain with demands for cash'.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are committed to working with Commonwealth partners on issues facing the world, including the role of private finance in tackling global debt issues, addressing the climate crisis, and supporting economic development.'
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