Kent MP joins infected blood scandal campaign
The son of an Ashford victim of the NHS blood contamination scandal says all he wants is Justice from the government and took to Downing Street to campaign today.
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00:00 Well, they have described it as one giant step towards justice.
00:05 Victims and bereaved families of the infected blood scandal,
00:09 alongside politicians of both sides of both parties,
00:14 delivered a letter today to 10 Downing Street
00:17 demanding that the government urgently
00:20 act on the infected blood inquiry's final compensation
00:23 recommendations.
00:25 In the 1970s and '80s, thousands of people
00:29 were contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C
00:33 during NHS treatment.
00:35 The treatment was used--
00:37 treatment that was used was commercial blood plasma.
00:40 Now, the issue was is that the donors sought
00:43 were from high-risk groups from the United States,
00:46 such as prisoners, drug addicts, and prostitutes.
00:49 Well, an inquiry was set up in 2017,
00:53 and the final report is due next year.
00:57 But they have recommended compensation before this.
01:00 At today's campaign, delivering a letter to Downing Street,
01:05 amongst them was Tim Ratton from Ashford.
01:08 His father, Paul, was a hemophiliac.
01:12 When Tim was only a child, Paul was treated with factor VIII.
01:16 That was the blood plasma that contaminated so many people.
01:20 He was suffering a bleed in his stomach in the mid '80s.
01:25 In 2011, he died.
01:27 We spoke to Tim earlier today after he handed the letter
01:30 in to number 10 Downing Street.
01:33 He told us it wasn't only his father he lost.
01:36 Within four years, I lost my dad, both my uncles--
01:40 And your granddad.
01:41 And my granddad, which I think was the stress of all.
01:46 So yeah, it was quite a dark time.
01:48 Obviously, it's been my life for a long time.
01:52 I've had to obviously not pursue my career,
01:56 because like my dad, he would pursue his career.
02:00 He didn't have all this to worry about.
02:02 Obviously, he wasn't well, but he kept that hidden.
02:05 But for me, I've had to sort of do the same.
02:07 So it's like so much of his career and my career
02:14 is wasted because of this.
02:16 But some days you wish, what if you was just like everyone else
02:20 and didn't have, obviously, this scandal to deal with?
02:24 Well, the government had promised
02:29 that compensation would be delivered on the catch
02:33 that after the final report next year had been delivered.
02:38 Well, amongst the campaign group today
02:40 was Damien Green, the Ashford MP.
02:43 He used to serve as a cabinet minister.
02:46 That was during Theresa May's run.
02:48 I asked him today, why does he think this current cabinet
02:53 are dragging their heels when it comes
02:55 to delivering compensation?
02:57 For a long time, the government, successive governments,
03:01 as I say, this goes back 50 years,
03:03 have tried to deny responsibility.
03:06 And obviously, this compensation is
03:08 going to be very expensive.
03:10 And so inevitably, the Treasury will be interested in that
03:13 and will want to examine every detail before they pay out
03:16 the compensation.
03:17 But nevertheless, I think it's now beyond argument
03:20 that this compensation needs to be paid.
03:22 It is perhaps ironic that even if you
03:24 take a very narrow financial view of this, which we
03:27 shouldn't, but even if you do, probably
03:30 if governments in the past had admitted responsibility earlier,
03:33 the compensation would be less.
03:35 Well, Damien Green, who you just heard from now,
03:41 was amongst 22 Conservative MPs who
03:44 voted against a Conservative whip last night.
03:47 A Labour amendment was passed, which
03:50 will mean a body will now have to be set up
03:53 to award compensation.
03:55 This was the Conservatives' first defeat
03:58 since the last general election.
04:00 All three Medway MPs, the Gravesend MP and Damien Green,
04:04 who you heard from, voted against it.
04:06 That means that it will now have to run
04:08 the scheme within three months of the new bill becoming law.
04:12 Here's the Gillingham MP in the Commons last night.
04:16 And I fully support her amendment in this regard.
04:19 I have a constituent which I had to deal
04:21 with when I first got elected as a member of Parliament in 2010.
04:25 And today's bill is from the Justice Department.
04:27 Justice delayed is justice denied.
04:30 It is absolutely crucial all victims
04:32 get treated with parity.
04:34 And therefore, we should not delay any further in making
04:37 sure they get the justice.
04:38 And I thank her for her work and support
04:40 for her amendment in this regard.
04:41 Well, as I said at the start, the campaign group
04:48 said they are one step closer to justice.
04:51 But they are still sceptical.
04:53 They've been in similar positions before.
04:56 Although the ministers now do have that responsibility
05:00 to bring that compensation in, they're not fully convinced.
05:03 Here's the Justice Secretary speaking last night
05:06 at the debate.
05:07 I can therefore confirm the government
05:09 will bring forward its own amendment when
05:11 the bill reaches the Lords, which
05:13 will put in place the necessary legislative framework
05:17 and timescales for a delivery body for compensation
05:20 for the victims of infected blood
05:22 to be established in line with the overall objective set out
05:26 in the Right Honourable Lady's new clause 27.
05:30 This will ensure that the government
05:31 is able to move quickly as soon as the inquiry reports.