Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and all the speakers in this debate thus far. I continue where she left off, taking a moment to look at the big picture.

We have a huge problem with trust in politics and government in our society at the moment. Sometimes, attached to that is the idea that, in the past, there was some golden age when everything worked. This tragedy, this awful behaviour by the state, is a demonstration that that is not the case. We have huge problems of dysfunction in the way our state has worked over long periods of time. As the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, said, addressing this fairly and justly, with compassion and care, could start to repair the relationship between the state and people.

I note the powerful speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, who, like all the speakers before her, has been very much a leader in this area. I come along modestly and add the Green Party’s support when I can. I thank the Minister for addressing the start of this debate with appropriate seriousness and recognising the sacrifice of families, campaigners and those who have been affected, who have demonstrated that campaigning works, in that we at least have a compensation scheme. But their experience also demonstrates that you cannot say, “We’ve won our fight, now we can get on with our lives”. People have to keep fighting and fighting and fighting. That is an unreasonable burden to put on people who have already fought for so much.

I want to pick up a couple of specific points, starting with the important contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Patten. It is considered bad form in your Lordships’ House to repeat, but I am going to repeat his demand: the Government surely have to be able to find figures to show how many people have died waiting for compensation. The figures are awful—around 3,000 people have been compensated out of 19,000 applications. We know that there must have been a lot of deaths. It cannot be beyond the capacity of the Government to give us that figure and demonstrate to the public that everyone can see clearly what is happening. This is about basic transparency.

There are many points to be made about what is wrong with what is happening now, and many of them have already been made. I pick two issues that the public would be astonished by if they were widely known. One is the fact that compensation payments are being eroded by inflation. The longer the state drags its feet, the less effective the money that people are getting to be able to get on with their lives. That is inappropriate and clearly wrong. The other point is that victims who have died must be treated in the same way as living victims. Bereaved families see the money immediately reduced as soon as someone dies, but they have died because of the terrible actions of the state. That cannot be considered in any way acceptable.

It is easy to get angry about this—your Lordships already have and will continue to do so. We have a new Government and a chance for a new start. Let us hope that this Government approach this with compassion, care and a realistic understanding that we have to restore trust in the state and in government. Indeed, in this current age of shocks, with so many health and other threats approaching, we need to ensure that there is trust in the medical profession. This compensation scheme can go some way to restoring that.