Diane's first speech as Shadow Minister for Public Health on Contaminated Blood
Watch the video online here
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/video/?from=next&file=23705&gid=debate/2010-10-14a.564.0&start=12411
“We can see from the attendance of this debate how seriously the entire House takes this historic injustice. There is no more significant subject for me to discuss in my first speech at the Dispatch Box.
We are all aware that the eyes of the haemophilia community are on us this afternoon. As my hon. Friend Mark Durkan said, this historic injustice represents a failure of the entire political class. This matter has been a long-standing concern of mine. It concerns a small community, which, as we have heard, consists of fewer than 5,000 people, of the sick, the bereaved and the dying. I have long thought that the role of a Back Bencher is to be a voice for the voiceless.
I congratulate my hon. Friend Mr Robinson on moving the motion with such passion and my hon. Friend Owen Smith, whose brainchild it is. I note the fact, which is not sufficiently recognised, that without the important reforms that took place at the end of the previous Parliament, which enabled Back Benchers to set the agenda for this House, we would not be having this debate.
I congratulate my hon. Friend Natascha Engel on her leadership of the Backbench Business Committee. I agree, not for the first time, with Mr Davis in saying that these Back-Bench debates should not be treated as second-class Opposition days. Above all, I congratulate the campaigners on this issue, who over 25 years have made it possible for this historic debate to take place.
We have heard some excellent contributions from hon. Members on both sides of the House. One cannot touch on this subject without referring to the years of work by Jenny Willott. Many hon. Members have spoken movingly about their constituents, including my right hon. Friend Paul Goggins, my hon. Friends the Members for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram), for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter), for Islwyn (Chris Evans) and for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz), and the hon. Members for Gillingham and Rainham (Rehman Chishti), for Mid Bedfordshire (Nadine Dorries) and for
My hon. Friend Mrs Moon made the important point that the victims include not only the individuals struck down by those illnesses and tainted blood, but whole families. My hon. Friend Robert Flello said that our Government-the outgoing Government-should have dealt with the matter. My right hon. Friend Mr Howarth called it one of the major injustices of our time. My right hon. and well-respected Friend Mr Clarke said that there should be humility on both sides of the House.
I welcome the review announced by the Minister and the terms of reference. For the avoidance of doubt, I have read the terms of reference, and I shall leave it to her to speak about them in detail. The Opposition particularly welcome the focus on the problems of sufferers of hepatitis C, as well as the raising of issues of insurance and access to nursing care and care in the community. I urge her to conclude the report before the end of the year if possible and, as she will understand, I would be interested to see the costings behind the questioned £3 billion figure that the Government have put in their amendment.
Finally, I should like to commit myself to working with Members across the House to get the best possible outcome for the people-some of whom many of us have met today-who have suffered so cruelly, so unfairly and for so long."
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