'Devastating' infected blood scandal was a 'repeated failure of the state' - PM

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has offered a "wholehearted and unequivocal" apology to the victims of the infected blood scandal, saying it was a "day of shame for the British state".

Mr Sunak said the scandal should have been avoided as he gave a statement in the Commons after the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report.

The document blamed "successive governments, the NHS, and blood services" for failures that led to 30,000 people being "knowingly" infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C through blood products - around 3,000 of whom have now died.

Politics live: Thatcher's health secretary 'disparaging' to infected blood victims

Calling it a "calamity", Mr Sunak said the report showed a "decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life", as he condemned the actions of the NHS, civil service and ministers - "institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way".

The prime minister said those people "failed this country", adding: "Time and again, people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again, they failed to do so.

"I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice."

Pointing to key findings in the report - from the destruction of documents through to failures over screening - Mr Sunak said there had been "layer upon layer of hurt endured across decades".

He also apologised for the "institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up", adding: "This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal.

"It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government's stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also apologised for his party's part in the scandal, telling the Commons: "I want to acknowledge to every single person who has suffered that in addition to all of the other failings, politics itself failed you.

"That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word, sorry."

The chair of the public inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said the response of both the NHS and the government had "compounded" the suffering of the victims, and there had been a "pervasive cover-up" inside the health service.

He issued 12 recommendations in his report - including an immediate compensation scheme and ensuring anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 was urgently tested for Hepatitis C.

Sir Brian said any government apology must be "meaningful" and "accompanied by action".

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Темы и теги

Политика