A GROUP of MPs has criticised the government’s refusal to issue a formal apology to unmarried mothers who were forced to give up their children by the state. 

Between 1949 and 1979, an estimated 185,000 children were taken from unmarried mothers in England and Wales and given up for adoption. 

In a report last July, the joint committee on human rights had called on ministers to apologise to the women, after finding that the government “bears ultimate responsibility” for the practice. 

Responding today, the government said that it was sorry for the way women had been treated by society — but did not think a formal apology was appropriate “since the state did not actively support these practices.”

The adoption practices during those decades were mainly the responsibility of local authorities, and religious organisations, it added. 

But committee chairwoman Joanna Cherry said it was disappointing the government had chosen not to issue a formal apology “in recognition of the appalling treatment that unmarried mothers suffered during that time.”

She added however that she was pleased that the government had acknowledged that what happened to mothers was profoundly wrong.