News
TB Press Release
Monday 8 February 2010
The following was issued to all our press contacts this evening:
TaintedBlood Press Release, 8th February, 2010
On 3rd February, over 130 people made their way to Westminster from all parts of Great Britain to lobby their MPs. They represented the community that TaintedBlood campaigns on behalf of – all those infected and affected by contaminated blood and blood products. It was a fantastic turnout, including people from as far apart as Inverness and Devon. Many of them were seriously ill as a result of their infection, and some of them have only months left to live.
The lobby was ahead of the Second Reading of Lord Morris of Manchester’s Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill. The Bill had passed swiftly through the House of Lords, unopposed and with huge support from all parties and we were all hoping that it would have the same smooth passage in the House of Commons.
Sadly, this was not the case. The Bill was placed low down on the list (6th), and therefore had to be read out by the Speaker at the end of the session. Despite the fact that the chamber was virtually empty, someone called: ‘Object’ and consequently the Bill is due to be re-listed in three weeks time. That ‘someone’ was Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East and a Junior Whip. Shame on her! She can have no idea what she has done.
Apparently, according to her office, they are not against the Bill itself, just against it going ahead without debate. This is hardly likely to happen now, and since we have been calling for such a debate for months, with no luck, it is clear that her office has a tenuous grasp of reality.
It is hard to describe the anger and hurt among our community following this action. We know that we have very wide support from MPs of all parties, and to be rejected at this stage by a junior whip was, we feel, cruel and unforgivable. Many of those we represent do not have the luxury of time to allow junior MPs to play political games in which the sick, the dying and the bereaved are used merely as pawns.
It is therefore encouraging to see that the Haemophilia Society is now adopting a ‘Name & Shame’ policy to publicly identify all those MPs who are blocking the progress of this worthy and humanitarian Bill. TaintedBlood will actively support this move in any way we can, and it is to be hoped that somehow a way can still be found to make Lord Morris’s Bill law within this Parliament.
The TaintedBlood Committee
Ms Kerry McCarthy blog (Tell It Like It Is)
Article submitted by Sue Threakall