Published4 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, PA MediaBy Sam FrancisPolitical reporter, BBC NewsCampaigners warn that the government will be “on the wrong side of history” if it rejects a new compensation scheme for NHS infected blood scandal victims.Thousands died after being treated with contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.MPs backed plans to set up a new compensation scheme, following a rebellion on Monday by Tory MPs.The Haemophilia Society said a new scheme can be ready by the end of the year if there was the “political will”.How 175 British children were infected with HIV Ministers lose infected blood vote in Tory revoltChairman of the Haemophilia Society, Clive Smith, said campaigners have received only “warm words” while the government worked “at a snail’s pace” to compensate victims of the scandal.Speaking on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Smith said: “This has never been about politics. This has always been about justice and doing the right thing, and no government should hold out on this.”They have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do this, and Rishi Sunak and the Tory Party, I’m afraid, will be on the wrong side of history and future because it shouldn’t have needed to come to this.”Downing Street said it was considering options after the vote in the Commons on Monday night, and will clarify its compensation plans in the coming weeks.The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “First and foremost, we have accepted the moral case for compensation and acknowledge justice needs to be delivered for victims.”This was an appalling tragedy. We certainly understand the strength of feeling.” Up to 30,000 people were given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s, leading to the deaths of more than 3,000 people after contracting HIV or hepatitis C.The government has said there is a moral case for compensating victims of the scandal, and has made the first interim payments of £100,000 each to 4,000 surviving victims and bereaved partners.Under the initial scheme only victims themselves or bereaved partners can receive an interim payment.The government had said it wanted to wait for the infected blood inquiry to conclude before setting up a full scheme.’Long overdue’Earlier this year, Sir Brian Langstaff, who is chairing the inquiry, called for a full compensation scheme to be set up immediately. He also said it should be widened to include orphaned children and parents who lost children.Sir Brian’s inquiry had been due to publish a final report in November, but this has been pushed back to March 2024.In an attempt to speed up efforts to compensate victims, Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson – who leads the All-Party Parliamentary group on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood – put forward an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill.The amendment forces the government to create a new body to distribute compensation for the scheme within three months of the bill becoming law.Rebel Tory MPs backed Dame Diana’s amendment, delivering Rishi Sunak his first defeat as prime minister. The legislation now needs to be approved by the House of Lords before becoming law.Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, which represents some 1,500 victims and their families, added: “The government has finally been forced to agree to act – both to deliver on establishing a body to oversee proper compensation for victims and their families and to respond swiftly to the much-anticipated final report due from Sir Brian Langstaff’s inquiry next March.”On the face of it the government is now committed to meeting its long-overdue responsibilities.”Let’s only hope there is no more obfuscation or creative delay tactics when the government announces its promised next steps.”More on this storyWhy the NHS gave thousands HIV-contaminated bloodPublished27 July 2021How 175 British children were infected with HIVPublished6 October 2022

Published5 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, PA MediaBy Sam FrancisPolitical reporter, BBC NewsPossessing laughing gas is to be made a criminal offence for the first time, the government has announced. There will also be tighter controls on retailers to prevent the supply of nitrous oxide for misuse.It goes against recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which recently advised against new laws to ban nitrous oxide.Nitrous oxide, sold in metal canisters, is known as NOS and is one of the most-used drugs by UK 16 to 24-year-olds. The details are expected to be released on Monday. The BBC understands the ban would be issued under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which regulates drugs based on their perceived harm and potential for misuse.It is already illegal to produce or supply the gas for its psychoactive effects under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. The law makes production, supply and importation of nitrous oxide for human consumption illegal, but not possession.The change is part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will announce on Monday for England and Wales.The plans will also give police and councils additional powers to deal with people who are “causing nuisance” by blocking shop doorways, asking for money at cash machines or leaving their belongings on pavements.These people will then be “directed towards the support they need”, such as accommodation, mental health or substance misuse services.”The debris and paraphernalia which causes blight will then be cleared,” the government added. Laughing gas users risk spine damage, say doctors’I showed son’s ashes to people using laughing gas’Outlining the reasons behind the nitrous oxide ban, the government said it was “concerned about the rise in health and social harms” of laughing gas, “particularly to young people”. “We are for the first time making possession of nitrous oxide an offence; preventing supply for misuse by putting tighter controls on retailers; and giving greater powers to law enforcement to take action against those who are in breach,” it added. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Michael Gove said: “We are doing this because if you walk through any urban park you will see these little silver cannister which are the evidence of people regarding public spaces as arenas for drug taking.”It is unacceptable. People should feel those spaces are being looked after in a way which means they are safe for children.”The levelling up secretary said the drug has an “intoxicating and potentially damaging effect on young brains and young nervous systems”.Heavy use can lead to a vitamin deficiency that damages nerves in the spinal column.This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Several drugs charities have criticised the announcement, claiming criminalising possession could lead to the drug becoming more dangerous.Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, said: “The idea that this is a deterrent effect is ridiculous it just criminalises users and will hand control of the product to criminal gangs.”This is just political theatre – if you need any proof you just need to see that they have ignored their own advisers. This is a particularly ugly example of performative politics.”Transform Drug Policy Foundation is a charity which campaigns for drugs to be legalised and regulated.Prof Adam Winstock, an addiction medicine specialist and founder of the Global Drug Survey, told the BBC that getting a criminal record “is going to be a far greater harm than the risks for the vast majority of people using nitrous oxide”.Reducing the risks of nitrous oxide is “better achieved with smart education, not blunt regulation that may compound existing harms and create new ones”, he added.Stronger sentencesEarlier this year the Home Office asked the ACMD to provide advice on whether to make possession of nitrous oxide a crime. The report recommended the substance should not be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act – which allows the use of life sentences for those supplying or producing some drugs.The ACMD stated the Psychoactive Substances Act – which limits prison sentences to a maximum of seven years – “remains appropriate legislation”. It said sanctions for the offences would be disproportionate with the level of harm associated with nitrous oxide, as well as creating “significant burdens” for legitimate uses of the substance. The review also found “no substantive evidence of links between nitrous oxide and anti-social behaviour” aside from littering.Alexandre Piot, director of research at the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group, said it was “shocking that the government feels it knows better than its own independent body of experts set up by law”.”The more they don’t listen to them, the more drug policy will continue to fail,” he said.Nitrous oxide is regularly used as an anaesthetic in medicine and dentistry, and as a gas for making whipped cream in cooking. Anti-social behaviourLabour backed the plans to ban the sale of nitrous oxide. Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said its use “causes a huge amount of littering disruption and anti-social behaviour”.She added: “We do need to tackle at source these kind of behaviours that are blights on our community.”It comes as the government unveils a new strategy to crack down on anti-social behaviour.Public drug use, fly-tipping and low-level crimes such as graffiti are to be targeted with a strategy of “hotspot” policing and “short and sharp” punishments.People who vandalise public spaces will have to repair the damage they cause within 48 hours of being given an order.A pilot, covering 10 areas, aims to show the public such acts are “quickly and visibly” punished.Ms Powell said the plans “amount to nothing”.Labour have also accused the government of cutting neighbourhood policing, leading to fewer offenders being punished.”We’ve heard it all before from this government and I think we have to judge them by their record,” Ms Powell added.More on this storyLaughing gas users risk spine damage, say doctors23 FebruaryLaughing gas should not be banned, review says6 MarchLaughing-gas makers call for retail sales ban18 October 2022Michael Gove confirms ban on nitrous oxide. Video, 00:01:02Michael Gove confirms ban on nitrous oxide22 hours ago1:02