A resolution to the debt scandal is further off than ever

Few could fail to feel deep sympathy for the families of those who died from being given contaminated blood, a scandal that dates to the 1980s and has yet to be resolved. On Monday night, Tory rebels defeated the Government in the Commons by backing a Labour measure demanding that a planned compensation scheme should be speeded up.

Ministers argue that, while they accept the need for compensation, they must wait for the publication of the public inquiry into the affair before giving a proper response.

The 2,400 victims were given products infected with HIV and hepatitis C taken from donors who should never have been allowed to give blood. Some haemophilia sufferers were treated with supplies of the clotting agent Factor VIII, which was imported from the United States, where donor controls were too lax.

This was an international scandal, yet other countries addressed its tragic consequences a long time ago. Here, there has been a reluctance to do so because the potential cost of a settlement will be considerable. One estimate put it at £20 billion.

Whenever MPs vote for compensation schemes like this, they are adding to a mounting national debt that tops more than £2 trillion. At some point, the constant spending as though we are a solvent nation needs to stop.

The blood scandal compensation may be a good and just cause, but MPs should say which cuts will be made to pay for it. Germany has just imposed a budget freeze on all new spending because its constitution limits the debt that can accumulate and the courts apply a brake. Maybe the Commons can vote to do the same.