An emotional Nicola Sturgeon has given a “sincere, heartfelt and unreserved” apology to the thousands of women in Scotland who were forced to give up their babies for adoption.

In one of her last acts as first minister, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs: “The horror of what happened to these women is almost impossible to comprehend. It is the stuff of nightmares.”

“We can say with one voice that we are sorry,” she added, apologising to the unmarried mothers in Scotland who were forced to give up their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.