Local MP Maria Miller said following the publication of the Langstaff Report today and the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Statement said,
“Fifty years of institutional cover up by successive Governments, the Department of Health and the NHS has been laid bare today. The Prime Minister’s statement sets out the moral failure of the State and the NHS which is at the core of these events.
“It is right that victims, their families and the bereaved receive an apology. Yet, there are no words that can make up for the loss, suffering and devastation that has been caused over the past 5 decades. Today must be the start of ensuring justice is finally achieved. I shall do everything I can to make sure any victims or their bereaved families who live in Basingstoke know how they can access the support that will be set out in detail tomorrow.
“We are affected in Basingstoke. Treloars’ Collage is specifically mentioned by Longstaff for the way in which pupils and their parents were unwittingly involved. My thoughts and prayers are with all of the former pupils and their families at such a difficult time.
“The British Public are weary of a catalogue of cover ups that have spanned decades, involving British institutions and Government departments. The Hillsborough police cover-up in 1989, the Post Office Masters scandal which spanned two decades from 1999, the Okenden investigation into NHS maternity care in Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals between 2000 and 2019, and now the Longstaff report into contaminated blood dating back to the 1970s. One thing allowed all of this catalogue of wrong doing to continue, a culture of cover up that could never be successfully challenged by the victims. People should never again have to fight for decades to have injustice recognised and righted.
“If the Government is to make good on its words today there needs to be a complete change of attitude and culture, particularly in our public services and the Civil Service, to outlaw any form of cover up, making transparency the norm. Shaking off 5 decades where cover up has been an accepted norm will require significant action. I for one shall be advocating that laws are in place to make any such attempt to cover up wrong doing a criminal offence.”
