UK government apologises for past burials of stillborn babies in mass graves

Yvette Cooper acknowledges ‘unthinkable pain’ caused by practice between 1930s and 1980s after campaign by Wirral woman and others

The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has issued a “profound apology” for the “unthinkable pain” caused to parents whose stillborn babies were buried in mass graves.

Over several decades between the 1930s and the early 1980s, many bereaved parents who lost babies in NHS hospitals were given no say in what would happen to their remains and no information about where they had been taken.

Gina Jacobs, from Wirral, whose son Robert was stillborn in 1969, did not know where he had been buried for 53 years. She has been among those campaigning for recognition from the government.

She added: “I have issued that apology to Gina today, but to so many more like Gina who have sought answers over many years, I’m sorry for the unthinkable pain caused by those historic practices, because what happened to those parents should never have happened and we need to ensure it can never happen again.”

“To me it’s like a lottery win because I have wanted this,” she added. “This brings dignity and respect to these babies, because they never got it at the time. And it brings it even to our missing babies.”

In July, Liverpool city council passed a motion calling on the government to apologise in parliament to families affected by the practice.

In response to the government apology, the Liverpool councillor Kris Brown, who put forward the motion, said: “The government’s words of apology will go a long way. For many, just acknowledging that it happened will bring a sense of closure and justice.

The council has urged the government to set aside national funding to retrieve burial records and has called for a comprehensive review into the mass burials, which took place under many successive governments.