Inquiry launched into NHS Blood scandal
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is among those claiming there has been a cover up.
A public inquiry's been announced into a scandal involving contaminated blood in the NHS which has left 2-thousand-400 people dead.
The scandal involved haemophiliacs and other patients being infected with hepatitis C and HIV from blood products during the 1970s and 1980s.
Greater Manchester mayor and former health secretary Andy Burnham has repeatedly called for a Hillsborough-style probe into what happened.
The Prime Minister's spokesman told a Westminster briefing: Jeremy Hunt said that 2,400 people had died and it was necessary to establish the causes of this appalling injustice.'
Mr Burnham claimed in the Commons that a "criminal cover-up on an industrial scale'' had taken place.
The former Cabinet minister said victims were used as "guinea pigs'' and subjected to "slurs and smears'' via falsified medical records.
Others had tests carried out without their knowledge or consent, with the results withheld "for decades in some cases'' even when they revealed positive results.
Mr Burnham said it had also been suggested that the withholding of results led to infections being passed on to people living with the victims.
The Government move comes after the leaders of six political parties signed a letter calling for a public inquiry into the scandal.
The letter, which was backed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the DUP's Westminster head Nigel Dodds, said a fresh probe should look into allegations of a cover-up and claims that patients were not told of the risks, even after the dangers became clear.