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The Herald Scotland
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Gypsy-Travellers 'deflated' by John Swinney's apology
Efforts to assimilate Gypsy-Travellers into Scottish society were first documented in the 1800s, but escalated with the Tinker Experiment from 1940 to 1980, when families were told their children would be removed if they did not leave their nomadic lifestyles for settlements. The settlements they were placed in were inadequate, with no running water or electricity, according to a St Andrews University report which highlighted significant failings. Speaking in Holyrood, Mr Swinney said the Tinker Experiments 'should not have happened', adding the impacts have been 'significant and lasting'. 'I want to say this: on behalf of Scotland, we are sorry,' he said. The apology has been welcomed by leading campaigners, including Dr Lynne Tammi-Connolly, who leaked a draft copy of the report earlier this year amid concerns the Scottish Government were seeking to erase some of the details. But financial compensation and funding for a memorial for the children trafficked away from their homes is needed, campaigners have said. She told The Herald: 'I'm a bit deflated, to be honest. Read more: 'We were expecting that there would be a commitment, at least some short-term offers, particularly in terms of a right to redress for people who are still living in the Tinker Experiment. 'I hoped there would be mention of a memorial to children that were trafficked, so this whole 'this is just the beginning, and we'll have conversations', this is what we have been doing for decades now.' She added: 'For me and many of the other campaigners, who have been in this for decades, we're not getting any younger. I don't have good health and it really is a case of how long we can wait. 'It's not about being impatient, it's about how much longer we have to wait.' She added that other campaigners will be 'disappointed'. 'I feel like I am going to have to continue pressurising and pushing government. Have we actually moved any further forward? I'm not sure that we have.' Speaking in Holyrood, Mr Swinney said: "The trauma that this has caused to individuals, families and groups, including those who regard themselves as 'victims of Tinker Experiments', is significant and lasting. "So, as First Minister of Scotland, I want to say this directly to Gypsy/Traveller communities: The 'Tinker Experiments' should not have happened. "These policies were wrong. And we recognise how much it is still hurting so many. "And more than anything else I want to say this: On behalf of Scotland, we are sorry." Read more: Mr Swinney said it was clear that "stark prejudice and and a lack of cultural awareness led to a serious of unfair and unjust policies". He added: "I invite Parliament to consider that only by confronting these difficult truths from our past, we are able to move forward - learning from the mistakes of the past as we work towards a more just and equitable Scotland – a Scotland that truly honours and celebrates the rich culture of Gypsy/Travellers." Roseanna McPhee and her siblings have lived in the Bobbin Mill settlement in Perth most of their lives after their parents were forcibly settled there in 1957. She said the aim of keeping them in insufficient accommodation would persuade them to assimilate into the wider community over time, thereby "eradicating" the Gypsy-Traveller community. Following the apology, Ms McPhee said there was never any effort to integrate Gypsy-Travellers into towns. "We only got hot water and electricity in 2010. "We were bullied at school and discriminated against all our lives, it's been very hard to get gainful employment and we're still harassed here at Bobbin Mill. "A crime against humanity has been committed against Scottish Gypsy-Travellers, and is ongoing today." She said: "This apology is a welcome first step in an ongoing conversation to help realise victims' rights to restitution. "This apology is a welcome first step in an ongoing conversation to help realise victims' rights to restitution what was done to me and my siblings. The Scottish Government needs to start implementing the recommendations in the report as one means of achieving restitution, including making Bobbin Mill a protected site of historic and cultural significance."
The Herald Scotland
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Why Gypsy-Traveller apology is just the start for Swinney
The apology follows years of campaigning but the reasons behind it date all the way back to the 1920s. Campaigners behind this, including those with lived experience, recognised the report as being a long time coming. The Herald has been covering the concerns facing the Gypsy-Traveller community for years. This is why an apology is just the start. 'Cultural genocide' St Andrews University's report, commissioned by the Scottish Government details centuries of policies that systematically marginalised Gypsy-Travellers. The report found that children were forcibly taken into care - an act described as "cultural genocide". Efforts to "assimilate" Gyspy-Travellers into Scottish society began were first documented in the 1800s. But it escalated with an experiment known as the Tinker Experiment, which ran from the 1940s to the 1980s. Read more: Gypsy Travellers facing 'biggest scandal' in housing Gypsy Travellers 'failed' as housing standards breached Gypsy-Traveller children trafficked out of Scotland Supported by the UK Government and local authorities, Gypsy-Travellers were told their children would be removed if they did not leave their nomadic lifestyle for settlements. While the experiment ended in the 1980s, these settlements exist today, with 'systemic failings' in accommodation reported by watchdogs. Families in the settlement huts did not have hot running water or electricity until around 2010 and there were serious sewage issues. Today, families living in Scotland's three Gypsy-Traveller settlements - Bobbin Mills, in Pitlochry, Double Dykes, Perth and Tarvit Mill, Fife, warn they are living in unsafe conditions. Report delays and links to Nazi eugenicist Dr Lynne Tammi-Connolly, a descendant of Gypsy-Travellers whose children were transported to Canada, leaked a draft copy of St Andrews University's report. She did so over concerns at the length of time the investigation was taking, and warned it was attempting to remove research linking leading figures in Scotland's state and church with Nazi eugenicist Wolfgang Abel. According to the report, the professor visited Caithness in 1938 to photograph and take measurements of Gypsy Travellers in Scotland. Abel was employed in Adolf Hitler's SS at the time as a signatory to the eugenics programme that led to the detention and forced sterilisation of Germany's Romany community. During his visit to Scotland, he bet with the British ambassador to Germany, the Archbishop of Canterbury and an inspector from the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSSPCC), now known as Children First. New research from Dr Tammi-Connolly revealed Abel intended to return to Scotland to continue profiling Scotland's Gypsy Traveller community. The apology is just the start Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was considering an apology nearly five years ago, so victims see this as a long-awaited step. If the Scottish Government does make an apology to the Gypsy-Traveller community, it won't be the end of it. Given there are still many living in poor housing conditions, there will be calls for financial redress, or compensation. Victims of the Tinker Experiment, and its consequences, demand: financial compensation funding for a memorial to the trafficked children Dr Tammi-Connolly told The Herald: "Any apology must come with a right to redress for Tinker Experiment victims and commitment to funding funding a memorial to the children trafficked to the colonies. "Anything less would be an affront to the memory of those victims no longer with us and a gross failure of duty to both those living with the intergenerational trauma of the Experiments and those still residing in Bobbin Mill the first and one remaining assimilation camp."
