Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said that Theresa May should seize the opportunity when she meets heads of Commonwealth governments in London next week

The Prime Minister should apologise to the Commonwealth for Britain's 'historic wrongs', Emily Thornberry claimed last night.

The shadow foreign secretary said that Theresa May should seize the opportunity when she meets heads of Commonwealth governments in London next week.

Writing for The House magazine, Mrs Thornberry made reference to David Cameron's apology to Nelson Mandela, when he met the South African president in 2006 for the Conservative government's failure to impose sanctions on the country during apartheid, but claimed 'that did not go far enough'.

She also re-stated claims made last year by 33 Commonwealth states that Britain should be referred to the International Court of Justice over 'historic wrongs' committed towards Chagos islanders.

Families living on the islands, referred to by Britain as part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, were forced to leave in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for a US airbase on Diego Garcia.

The fate of the archipelago has been a key issue for Jeremy Corbyn in the past, The Times reported.

Mauritius accused Britain of breaking international law by splitting the Chagos islands from its territory before it gained independence.

The claims were denied by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Mrs May should apologise 'not just for the wrong done to the Chagos islanders, but for the actions of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s', Mrs Thornberry said.

'I believe Theresa May and the Conservative government in Britain also owes an apology to the Commonwealth as a whole – and indeed Her Majesty the Queen – for ignoring the efforts of every other member thirty years ago to bring apartheid to an end.

'This week would be an appropriate moment to correct that historic mistake, and would send a wider signal to our Commonwealth cousins.'