Page 2 of 2

“A commitment which, had it been adhered to, clearly would have saved an enormous number of people not just from serious illnesses but from death.

“What I have asked Tony Blair is whether the Department of Health was aware of Lord Owen’s budgeted commitment that within 18 months the UK no longer need import blood products from countries using paid donors.

“The argument often used is that it is another government, another day. But the present Government has a responsibility to correct and put right what is known to be wrong – and the way to do that is to have a public inquiry.

“There has been a public inquiry into the Paddington rail crash, there has been a public inquiry into Alder Hey, there has been a public inquiry into the Marchioness disaster. But add up the fatalities from all of these disasters put together and you don’t even come close to the number of haemophiliacs who have died through infected blood products.

“How can the Government justify a public inquiry into these and ignore the tragedy which has devastated the lives of thousands of haemophiliacs?”