Business of the House

Jessica Morden Excerpts

Thursday 15th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Absolutely. I join my hon. Friend in wishing a happy Vaisakhi to the Sikh community. I join her in paying tribute to their generosity and the principle of service that we have seen from NHS workers and doctors, police officers, armed forces personnel and all key workers.

I also join my hon. Friend in celebrating the news that the memorial will be unveiled in Wednesfield in September. The Sikhs provided 20% of the British Indian Army in the first world war and were the most decorated community in the British empire, winning more Victoria Crosses per capita than any other. When I was the Conservative candidate in The Wrekin, the family of the first Sikh to win the Victoria Cross lived there, and I must confess that I was very proud to meet them and to have an association with them, now 20 years ago. We should be very grateful for the enormous contribution made to the United Kingdom by members of the Sikh community.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

Last month’s update on compensation for victims of the contaminated blood scandal was welcome, but there is still no provision or scheme for bereaved parents such as the Smiths from Newport, who tragically lost their son Colin, aged just seven, after he was infected with blood from Arkansas prison. Can we have an opportunity to discuss compensation schemes and to impress on Cabinet Office Ministers the need to finally include and, crucially, acknowledge bereaved parents?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The hon. Lady raises a point of huge importance. This is something that the Government have an inquiry on, and that inquiry is continuing. The inquiry has not lost pace because of the pandemic; it has been holding remote hearings and will come to a conclusion. I understand that my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General will be having meetings with the all-party parliamentary group on haemophilia and contaminated blood, but also with the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson), to update people on what is happening and to give reassurance that this matter is taken deeply seriously. It was a terrible failing with appalling consequences for individuals and their families.