OTLEY'S MP is calling on the Government to apologise for the 'national disgrace' of forced adoptions.

Alex Sobel took part in a debate on the issue in the House of Commons that also marked his 100th spoken contribution since being elected in June, 2017.

The MP highlighted the importance of ‘giving a voice to the voiceless’ and spoke with passion about the case of Helen Jeffreys, a Leeds woman who had her baby son ‘forcibly taken’ from her in the mid-1960s.

He said her story was, unfortunately, not an uncommon one and that - historically - many young women who had become pregnant outside of marriage had faced a similar ordeal.

Branding the practice 'a national disgrace', he also pointed out the difficulties that parents and children faced when later trying to find each other - and the new problems that could spring up after being reunited.

Mr Sobel concluded by reminding his fellow politicians of the "real life pain, grief and suffering...in the lives of those who have to carry those memories and those histories."

And he urged Prime Minister Theresa May to: "Step up to the plate (and) give Helen and all the other mothers the apology that they deserve."