TORY MPs are set to unite with Labour tonight in backing calls to create a new body to bring justice to infected blood victims.
They are set to join together in a Commons rebellion against the government, which insists that nothing be done until an inquiry into the scandal has concluded.
Thousands of people were infected with blood contaminated with HIV and Hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s in NHS transfusions, yet still await compensation.
Thirty Tory MPs have backed an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill to set up a judge-led body to administer payouts.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has written to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt calling the infected blood scandal “one of the most appalling tragedies in our country’s recent history.”
“Blood infected with Hepatitis C and HIV has stolen life, denied opportunities and harmed livelihoods,” she said.
“This is not a party political issue. All of us have a responsibility to act now to address this historic wrong.”
Acting now is not the government’s position, however. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have made interim compensation awards, there is an inquiry ongoing.
“That will report next year and that is why we think it is appropriate to wait for the inquiry.
“I can totally understand and this is an absolutely dreadful situation, that is why government has already identified compensation on an interim basis and that is why we have got an inquiry.”
The creation of the new body has however already been recommended by the chairman of the contaminated blood inquiry, former judge Sir Brian Langstaff.
The final report was expected in the autumn, but publication has now been postponed until March 2024 because of the volume of material to be studied.
Under the interim scheme, only victims themselves or their bereaved partners can receive an initial payments of up to £100,000.
Senior Tories David Davis and Robert Buckland are among those backing the amendment, which would establish the new body within three months of the law being passed, with Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle due to decide whether MPs would be given the chance to vote on it.
