Rishi Sunak has been left red-faced after suffering his first House of Commons defeat as PM over the infected blood scandal.
In a nail-biting vote which ended in a 246 to 242 result in favour of a new body to help compensate vistims, the Tory Government’s huge majority was completely wiped out in a huge win for Keir Starmer and the Labour party.
As a result of the vote, the PM will now be forced into a £20 billion spending commitment this year. In the shock result, Tory MPs revolted against Sunak and the cabinet, as they instead sided with the Labour party, supporting their amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill.
MPs cheered when the result of the tight vote was announced, while the government will now be forced to establish a “body to administer the compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal” within three months of the bill passing.
It is the first defeat in the House of Commons on a whipped vote since 2019. The government had wanted to wait for the infected blood inquiry to conclude before setting up a full payment scheme, after making a number of initial payments to victims.
It is estimated that up to 30,000 people were given contaminated blood procusts throughout the 1970s and 1980s, while more than 3,000 people died of HIV or hepatitis C because they received unsafe blood transfusions.
The full result of the inquiry is expected to be published in March 2024.
The defeat came despite a last-ditch attempt by the Government to offer concessions in a bid to placate MPs. Justice minister Edward Argar had said the Government would amend the Bill in the Lords to establish the necessary structure and timescales for a delivery body to provide compensation.
But he outlined that the Government would still not act until the final report from the independent Infected Blood Inquiry has been published. The inquiry into the scandal was due to publish its final report this autumn but the document will now be published in March 2024 due to the “sheer volume and scale of the material”.
Under an initial compensation scheme, only victims themselves or bereaved partners can receive an interim payment of around £100,000. MPs have urged swifter action given it is estimated someone affected by infected blood dies “every four days”.
Haemophilia Society chief executive Kate Burt said: “The Prime Minister should be ashamed that it has taken cross-party political pressure and public opinion to force his Government to do the right thing and commit to a full compensation scheme for people impacted by the contaminated blood scandal.
“He fails to understand that compensation is about so much more than money. For the families of those who died, compensation is recognition of their suffering and an acknowledgement that their beloved child, parent, sibling or partner was valued beyond measure.
“We thank MPs from all parties for dragging the Government towards urgent action in support of thousands of people who have already waited far too long for truth and justice.”
