YP Comment: Time to act over blood scandal
diana jOHNSON, the Hull North MP, deserves great credit for championing victims of the contaminated blood scandal in the 1970s and 1980s that led to the deaths of around 2,400 people. Without her persistence, six opposition leaders would not be backing calls for a Hillsborough-style inquiry.
Yet, while the Government will be reluctant to hold a full public inquiry when it is having so much difficulty setting up the terms of reference for the probe into the Grenfell Tower tragedy, there’s no reason why Theresa May – a Prime Minister committed to fighting injustice – can’t sanction the orderly release of the relevant documents.
Those caught up in the scandal have a right to know, for example, whether medical details were tampered with to hide the cause of their infections. And, while these matters are historic and precede this Government, disclosure will demonstrate that Ministers are, for once, on the side of victims.