‘We must give these people justice’: reports of contaminated blood could lead to prosecution, minister says – live in British politics

Yesterday Wes Straating, the shadow secretary of health, forgot one of Labour’s six new promises in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. Sarah Jonesa shadow business secretary, did not make the same mistake this morning, but in an interview with Talk TV she got the details of one of them wrong, claiming Labor was committing to “40,000 new appointments or operations a day”.

The Conservative Party has published a cheerful message in the press. It quotes Richard Holdenthe Tory chairman, saying:

A second member of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team has forgotten his latest set of ‘promises’. They change so quickly that his own team can’t even be bothered to remember what they are.

But there are consolations for Labour, because these stories are a useful way to make money the promises back in the news. Jones would have had to make 40,000 additional appointments every week. Here you will find the full health promise.

Reduce waiting times on the NHS with 40,000 extra evening and weekend appointments every week, paid for by the crackdown on tax avoidance and non-doms.

Last year the PvdA announced that this was the case dropping plans to enable people to change gender (by obtaining a gender recognition certificate) via so-called “self-ID”, without the need for a medical diagnosis.

At the time Anneliese DoddsThe Labor leader and shadow minister for women and equalities said Labor would still require medical evidence but that the current process, which is long, complicated and seen as demeaning by transgender people, would be simplified. She said the transition no longer needs to be approved by a panel, and that “a diagnosis from one doctor… should be sufficient.”

In a story in the Times Today, Geraldine Scott says Labor may allow a GP to approve an application for a gender recognition certificate. She says:

The Times understands that one option being considered is that the doctor could be a GP. Labor would also remove a spouse’s ability to object to the change. A source said the party wanted to make the process “less medicalised”, but added that the plans would retain the involvement of a doctor and not allow people to identify themselves to obtain legal changes.

They said it had not yet been decided whether the medical professional would be a general practitioner or a gender specialist, and that the issue would likely go to consultation if the party wins the next election.

The discussions center on the concern that if the only doctor was a specialist, a GP would still have to make a referral, leaving in place the two-step process that Labor wants to drop.

This is evident from new opinion polls by Ipsos. reported in the StandardPeople are a lot less gloomy about the state of the economy than they were last month – but this hasn’t had much of an impact on how they say they are likely to vote.

In his story, Nicholas Cecil reports:

The Ipsos survey for The standard showed that 33 percent of adults expect the country’s economic conditions to improve in the coming year, 37 percent to worsen and 25 percent to “stay the same,” giving an Economic Optimism Index of -4 for May.

The figures are noticeably better than in April, when 21 percent thought there was an economic improvement, 52 percent a deterioration and 21 percent “stayed the same,” an EOI of -31.

But the Conservatives don’t seem to get much credit. Over the same period, their support has increased by just one point. Keiran Pedley from Ipsos has the figures.

🚨New from @IpsosUK: Labor advantage at 21 🚨

Labor 41% (-3 from April)
Conservative 20% (+1)
Lib Dems 11% (+2)
Greens 11% (+2)
Reform 9% (-4)
Other 8% (+2)

N=1,008. fieldwork May 8-14

Tables and more to follow. Key trends on our election website here

Good morning. We have had no shortage of news lately about scandals involving grotesque failings of state organizations, and decades of attempts to cover them up, and today we get the final report of the investigation into one of the worst of them all: the process by which more than 30,000 NHS patients became infected with HIV or hepatitis C because they were treated with contaminated blood imported from the US. Here’s our sample story Rachel Hall, Matthew Wever And Peter Walker about what to expect.

And here is an explanation of it Haroon Siddique with background information about the scandal.

Much of the reporting this morning has focused on the apology that Rishi Sunak is expected to issue later. Hillsborough was a disaster that took place in 1989, the Waspi scandal over the state pension age for women had its roots in decisions made in the 1990s, and the Post Office Horizon scandal concerns prosecutions that occurred mainly in the first decade of this century, but the infected blood scandal goes back to the 1970s and so Sunak will apologize on behalf of the state for things that in some cases happened before he was even born.

Johannes Glen, the Cabinet Office minister dealing with the scandal on behalf of the government, gave interviews this morning. The government is expected to approve a compensation package worth more than £10 billion, but he told Times Radio this morning that the government would not give full details today as it wanted to ensure the media covered the report today , and what victims have to say.

But he did not rule out that the report would lead to criminal prosecution against some perpetrators. When asked if people can be taken to court, Glen told LBC:

If there is clear evidence and a path to it, then it is clearly something that the government will have to address. I’m not sure, but we need to give these people justice.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11.30 am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

12.30 pm: Sir Brian Langstaff publishes the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry. Campaigners will hold a press conference immediately afterwards and Langstaff himself will speak.

1:15 p.m.: Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, gives a speech to the Education World Forum in London.

3:00 PM: David Cameron, Foreign Secretary, gives evidence to the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee on “Britain’s new relationship with the EU”.

After 3:30 PM: Rishi Sunak is expected to make a statement to MPs on the Infected Blood inquiry report.

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