A WORKINGTON man affected by the infected blood scandal has praised a new Cumbrian MP for using his first question in Parliament to call for a debate on the issue.
Last Thursday, July 18 new Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister took to the benches of the House of Commons to speak for the first time, asking the Leader of the House Lucy Powell whether there would be a debate on the infected blood scandal in the current Parliament.
Following the question, Mr MacAlister said Workington campaigner and victim of the infected blood scandal Stuart Hall was ‘very much in mind’ during his question.
The retired local government officer was told in the early 1990s he had been infected with the virus which, over the years, has led the 57-year-old to develop liver cancer and later cirrhosis of the liver, until he had a full liver transplant in 2021.
This year, Mr Hall has spoken out how the scandal has affected his life, calling on the former government to provide compensation to the victims urgently, after what he said was a delay.
Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister said: “A number of individuals in Workington have raised the impact the infected blood scandal has had on them and their families in the last year.
“Stuart has spoken publicly about that, but he first spoke to me when I knocked on his door and asked him what the biggest issue was that was affecting him, and his family and he said the infected blood scandal and the impact it has had on his health and his life.
“I had Stuart very clearly in mind when I was asking that question. It’s a massive privilege, you have got people who raise issues with you as their local MP, then you have got an ability to do something with it which is just an enormous privilege, and on this one I am confident in the government, the answer that I got from the leader of the house was that there will be a parliamentary moment around the compensation scheme potentially this side of the recess.”
Mr Hall said he was delighted that the new MP had used his first question to raise such an important issue and expressed his encouragement at the government’s response.
He said: “I watched it and I thought ‘that’s his first question’ which I was really happy about. He’s got a lot of things that he will be focusing on, things he wants to get done, things that are important to him, but I was really happy that he chose that particular question as his first question.
“It did mean a lot to me that he did that.”
Mr Hall said he was encouraged by the response from the Leader of the House around a reply or debate on the matter before summer recess.
He said: “The important thing is that they do keep their focus on it, I think they probably will.
“We just wait and see what the next step is now.”
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