A PETITION with almost 1,000 signatures from the affected families of the Infected Blood Inquiry is being submitted to the House of Commons today. 

Dozens of families have been waiting for compensation ever since an inquiry was set up and chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff in 2017 to investigate the nationwide infected blood scandal. 

The inquiry concluded that patients of the scandal should be compensated £100,000 in the interim while the full report is completed, with it now scheduled to be released on May 20 after months of delay. 

However, the UK Government has been refusing to begin the compensation scheme until the release date, despite a vote in December 2023 calling for the compensation to be sped up. 

As no such further action has been taken by the UK Government to do this, a petition has now been signed by almost 1,000 people affected by the scandal calling for the compensation to be sped up and not force these families to be waiting any longer for justice for their loved ones. 

Newport couple Colin and Janet Smith are among those who have been helping to collect signatures as they have been waiting for justice for their son Colin who died in 1990 from HIV, developed from an infected blood product. 

South Wales Argus: Colin and Janet Smith lost their son, also named Colin, in the UK contaminated blood scandalColin, who was just seven when he died, had been given Factor VIII, an infected blood product taken from prisoners in America, and he soon developed AIDS as a result. 

His parents have been fighting for more than 30 years for justice, refusing to "sit in silence and suffer" after what happened to their son. 

Newport East MP Jessica Morden has been supporting the Smiths and fellow affected families throughout the inquiry, and is now set to submit the almost 1000-strong petition to the Speaker of the House of Commons today, Tuesday, May 14.

In a post shared to her official X, formerly Twitter, account on Friday, May 10, she shared her plans for the petition and some of the people she has worked with to complete it. 

She said: "The petition requests that the House of Commons urges the Government to implement the recommendations in the Second Interim Report of the Infected Blood Inquiry.

"It will be handed in with almost 1000 signatures thanks to the hard work of Colin, Jan, Lin and the incredible Laura Smith who has been collecting signatures across Newport East for weeks."

The inquiry has been causing uproar across the country since it began in 2017, with the most recent horrific discovery being revealed in a television documentary aired in April which revealed that Colin Smith's doctor ignored his own rules when treating him.