The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has urged Theresa May to step in to save the troubled inquiry into contaminated blood, as he warned that victims of the scandal could lose trust in the process for good unless it is moved away from the Department of Health.
Burnham called on the prime minister to intervene after weeks of stalemate over the inquiry. Campaigners have said they will boycott the process while it is overseen by the Department of Health, which they believe to be historically implicated in the scandal.
The Labour mayor, who was instrumental in securing the Hillsborough inquiry, told the Guardian: “I’m appealing to the prime minister to salvage the process before trust gets corroded on all sides.”
Burnham was one of several senior politicians from all parties involved in getting the government to commit to an inquiry in July, after campaigners fought for 30 years for an investigation into how contaminated blood transfusions infected thousands of people with hepatitis C and HIV.
However, it quickly ran into difficulties when survivors and families of people killed by tainted blood refused to attend an initial consultative meeting held with officials from the Department of Health.
Burnham, a former health secretary, said the government could help solve the impasse by simply switching oversight to the Cabinet Office.
“There is a real issue about whether it can be led by a department with a long history when it comes to what happened with contaminated blood,” he said.
“I would say there is a simple solution which is that the Cabinet Office should take responsibility and that could help move the inquiry forward in a way that it is not moving forward right now.
“It was a major breakthrough to get the commitment to the principle of an inquiry and so I would hope the government would understand the feelings people have and listen to them and make what could be quite a small shift to capture people’s trust in the process. The worry is that if they lose the people’s trust it can never be re-established.”
The Right Rev James Jones, a former bishop of Liverpool, who chaired the Hillsborough independent panel, was asked earlier this month to help break the stalemate by hosting talks with victims, but the Department of Health is still refusing to relinquish control over the inquiry.
Diana Johnson, a Labour MP who has long campaigned for contaminated blood victims, said those affected had been told a consultation on the inquiry run by the Department of Health was being extended from August until October.
She said it was “still absolutely wrong that the Department of Health is leading on this”.
The main groups representing victims and their families lack trust in the department because they believe its officials were complicit in covering up the scandal in previous decades.
One of the campaign groups, Factor 8, responded to the delay by saying it was “once again appalled by the tactics of the Department of Health”.
Last month, Tainted Blood, The Forgotten Few, Positive Women, the Contaminated Blood Campaign and others released a statement saying: “We and our members universally reject meeting with the Department of Health as they are an implicated party. We do not believe that the DH should be allowed to direct or have any involvement into an investigation into themselves, other than giving evidence. The handling of this inquiry must be immediately transferred elsewhere.”
Responding to Burnham, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: “We are determined to make sure the voices of victims and their families are heard as part of this inquiry. That is why, at the request of Bishop James Jones and some campaign groups we have extended the deadline to make sure everyone has the opportunity to input their views on the format and scope of the inquiry. No decision has yet been taken on sponsorship – we welcome any views on this and it will be considered as part of the consultation.”
