Mayor of Greater Manchester and former Health Secretary in the last Labour Government Andy Burnham has described the Infected blood scandal as ‘a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale’
He told Channel Four News that
“I would like to see prosecutions. There has to be full accountability for what happened here, alongside a full apology, and a full compensation scheme immediately”
He added that:
“I think the blame rests in the Treasury. I know they have had a grip on this issue. No statements admitting liability could be made. That was the view of the British state from the start. The fear of financial exposure. That explains why the lines never changed over the years”
Ministers are today the expected to announce an unprecedented compensation scheme worth around £10 billion for the victims of the infected blood scandal,
Yesterday Rishi Sunak said that “whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”
Andy Burnham told a Sunday Times event yesterday that
“There must now be full consideration of prosecutions, and I would include in that the potential for corporate manslaughter charges against Whitehall departments.”
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning Burnham made a very powerful case for ‘Hillsborough Law’, a statutory duty of candour on all public servants, to help prevent further scandals like “Post Office, Hillsborough, Grenfell, Windrush, infected blood, nuclear test veterans”.
