Gordon Brown apologises for 'letting down' 130,000 child migrants
Gordon Brown apologises for 'letting down' 130,000 child migrants
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 24, Feb 2010 01:11
By Richard James.
Gordon Brown has formally apologised for the UK's role in sending thousands of children abroad to former colonies, admitting they had been "let down".
Some 130,000 children were sent abroad from the 1920s to the 1960s as part of the Child Migrants Programme.
The children were routinely promised a better life after being taken away from their families, with some wrongly being told their parents were dead, but a large number ended in institutions or as labourers and reportedly suffered widespread abuse.
Addressing MPs in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister said it was right for the government to recognise the human cost of the "shameful" chapter in human history.
Saying he was apologising on behalf of the entire nation, Mr Brown declared solemnly: "We are truly sorry. They [the child migrants] were let down. We are sorry they were allowed to be sent away at the time when they were most vulnerable... sorry the country turned its back."
The prime minister conceded in his speech the apology had taken too long but said the government was now determined to do it all could to "heal the wounds".
A new £6 million family restoration fund was welcomed by both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, with the prime minister confirming he would personally be meeting with former child migrants later today.
Mr Brown's apology follows a similar speech by his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd in November last year.