Infected blood inquiry scandal - live: Sunak calls report ‘day of shame’ and vows to give victims compensation

Prime minister also apologises to victims as inquiry finds catalogue of failures by successive governments and NHS after tens of thousands avoidably infected with HIV and Hepatitis

Sunak apologises ‘wholeheartedly’ to infected blood victims

The prime minister has called the findings of the inquiry into the infected blood scandal a “day of national shame”, as he pledged to give victims compensation and apologised to them on behalf of successive governments.

Addressing the House of Commons on Monday following the publication of the damning 2,527-page report, Rishi Sunak said: “I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”

He also promised to pay “comprehensive compensation” to those affected and infected by the scandal. “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it,” he added, saying details would be set out on Tuesday.

Politicians, doctors and civil servants were found guilty of a chilling cover-up in the report, which laid bare a catalogue of failures by successive governments and the NHS that amounted to a “calamity”.

Tens of thousands of people were avoidably infected with HIV and Hepatitis in the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, which led to the deaths of around 3,000 patients.

The report into the shameful scandal found the public was falsely reassured, children were treated unnecessarily, evidence was deliberately destroyed, and a significant number of people remain undiagnosed after receiving blood transfusions in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Some patients were “betrayed” because tests were carried out on them without their knowledge or consent.

John Glen, the Cabinet Office minister dealing with the scandal on behalf of the government, has refused to rule out criminal proceedings for those involved.

Key Points

• Rishi Sunak vows victims will receive compensation: ‘Whatever it costs, we will pay it'
• Rishi Sunak calls damning revelations of report ‘a day of shame for the British state’
• Prime minister ‘wholeheartedly and unequivacally’ apologises to infected blood victims
• Sir Keir Starmer apologises to victims of infected blood scandal for injustice on ‘unprecedented scale'
• Deaths and suffering of tens of thousands ‘could and should have been avoided’

[20 May 2024 17:44 · Tara Cobham]

‘Result of this inquiry should shake our nation to its core’, PM tells parliament

The results of the infected blood inquiry should “shake our nation to its core”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said opening his apology made in the House of Commons on Monday.

He continued: “At every level, the institutions and people in which we put our trust have failed in the most devastating way.”

(PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

[20 May 2024 17:35 · Tara Cobham]

Sir Keir Starmer apologises to victims of infected blood scandal for injustice on ‘unprecedented scale'

Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to victims of the infected blood scandal for the injustice they have faced on an “unprecedented” scale.

Addressing the victims when speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, he said: “Politics itself failed you - that failure applies to all parties including my own. There is only one word: ‘Sorry’.”

[20 May 2024 17:32 · Rebecca Thomas]

Rishi Sunak vows victims will receive compensation: ‘Whatever it costs, we will pay it'

Rishi Sunak has vowed victims of the infected blood scandal will receive compensation.

The prime minster pledged: “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”

Around £10 billion has been earmarked for a compensation package for those affected, which is set to be announced on Tuesday.

[20 May 2024 17:27 · Tara Cobham]

Prime minister ‘wholeheartedly and unequivacally’ apologises to infected blood victims

The prime minister has “wholeheartedly and unequivocally apologised to the victims of the infected blood scandal.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Rishi Sunak said: “Today I want to speak directly to the victims and their families, some of whom are with us in the gallery - I want to make a wholehearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”

[20 May 2024 17:22 · Tara Cobham]

Rishi Sunak calls damning revelations of report ‘a day of shame for the British state’

Rishi Sunak has called the damning revelations of the inquiry into the infected blood scandal “a day of shame for the British state”.

Addressing the House of Commons on Monday in the wake of the publishing of the inquiry’s findings, the prime minister said: “This is a day of shame for the British state. Today’s reprot shows decades-long national failure at the heart of our national life.”

[20 May 2024 17:20 · Tara Cobham]

Watch live: Rishi Sunak makes statement on infected blood scandal after damning report released

[20 May 2024 16:54 · Tara Cobham]

Rishi Sunak set to give statement in parliament over infected blood scandal

Rishi Sunak is set to give a statement in parliament over the infected blood scandal.

The prime minister is expected to apologise as he addresses the House of Commons at 5pm today, said the chair of the damning inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff.

[20 May 2024 16:22 · Tara Cobham]

Watch: Politicians ‘should hang their heads in shame’ over scandal, says campaigner

[20 May 2024 16:21 · Tara Cobham]

‘Villains’ of the infected blood scandal exposed

Former health secretary Lord Kenneth Clarke has been exposed as one of multiple “villains” complicit in the failures identified by the infected blood inquiry today.

Lord Ken Clarke was health minister between 1982 and 1985 when the government was warned about using blood products from prisons in the US by a leading epidemiologist.

Margaret Thatcher, it was found, was key in the peddling of the false argument that people infected with HIV from blood products “had been given the best treatment available on the then current medical advice, and without it many of the haemophiliacs would have died”, according to the inquiry.

On 22 November 1989, the former prime minister rebuffed a proposal by an MP that the government should take special action on moral and political grounds.

Multiple ministers have opposed compensation during the decades-long fight, including Stephen Dorrell, minister for health between 1995 and 1997, and Alan Milburn who was Secretary of State for Health, from 1999 to 2003.

Rishi Sunak’s, who is expected to make an announcement at 5pm today, compounded the suffering of the victims, the inquiry said, with the “sluggish pace” and lack of transparency on compensation.

One of the most shocking stories within the scandal was the infection of 122 young boys who were “experimented” Dr Anthony Aronstam, who has since died.

Another clinician professor Arthur Bloom, who has also since died, was the director of the Cardiff Haemophilia Centre, and considered one of the UK’s leading haematologists during the 1970s and 80s, “overly influenced” the way the government view the emergence of aids and played down the threat posed to people.

[20 May 2024 15:54 · Tara Cobham]

Watch: Infected blood inquiry chair urges government to compensate victims