Party leaders urge Theresa May to order major probe into contaminated blood scandal
2 min read
Opposition leaders have joined forces in urging Theresa May to order a Hillsborough-style investigation into the NHS contaminated blood scandal.
An open letter, signed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon branded it one of the “worst peacetime disasters in our country’s history”.
Even DUP Westminster boss Nigel Dodds - who holds major sway over the Prime Minister after she formed a deal with his party to keep her in power - has signed it, as has Green co-leader Caroline Lucas and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood,
Thousands of people were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV through NHS blood products in the 1970s and 80s - many of whom have died as a result of the mistakes.
The letter from the party leaders says: “We believe those affected have a right to know what went wrong; and why.
“Whenever public disasters of this kind take place, government has a fundamental duty to support those affected in getting the answers they need; to disclose everything they know; and to ensure that officials are called to account for their actions.
"We regret that for many decades the victims of the contaminated blood scandal have been denied this right.”
Former health secretary Andy Burnham has vowed to hand police a dossier which will show “a “criminal cover-up on an industrial scale” if the Prime Minister fails to act.
A new investigation would follow the Penrose inquiry into contaminated NHS blood in Scotland, which led to David Cameron giving a public apology in 2015.
Yesterday the Department of Health admitted the scandal was “a tragedy that has caused unimaginable hardship and pain”.
Mrs May last week pledged to look at any new evidence brought forward.
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