The British state will have to answer for the decades of "misery and suffering" experienced by victims of the infected blood scandal and address any allegations of criminal wrongdoing, a government minister said on Monday.
Paymaster General John Glen said tens of thousands of people "deserve justice" for being infected with deadly viruses, including HIV and hepatitis, between the 1970s and early 1990s.
Ahead of the inquiry publishing its findings into the scandal later on Monday, Mr Glen told LBC: "I think [the report] will provide some very, very challenging questions for the British state over what's happened over the last 50 years.
"And we are the government obviously in place today and we will have to respond on behalf of this British state.
He added: "The misery and suffering that these people have had with HIV and hepatitis C over many, many years is grim and the British state has got to answer as to how they were put in that position."
Asked how likely it is that criminal proceedings could be brought, he added: "If there's clear evidence and there is a pathway to that, then it's obviously something the government will have to address. I can't be sure, but we've got to give these people justice."
Some 3,000 people have died and thousands of others have been left with lifelong health complications after receiving contaminated blood or plasma during operations, childbirth or for treatment for conditions such as haemophilia.
It has been described as the biggest scandal in NHS history and it is estimated that one person dies as a result of infected blood every four days.
The inquiry was first announced by former prime minister Theresa May in 2017, with the first official hearing held on April 20 2019.
Some 374 people have given oral evidence, and the inquiry has received more than 5,000 witness statements and reviewed more than 100,000 documents.
The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, has previously said that "wrongs were done at individual, collective and systemic levels".
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to issue an apology in the Commons following the publication of the report, which will lay bare the scale of the failings.
A compensation scheme, which is expected to be in the region of £10billion, will be announced at a later date.
Labour shadow minister Sarah Jones said: "We are all incredibly sorry about what has happened and I think it's right that we are seeing reports that the Prime Minister is going to come to Parliament and the expectation is that he will apologise.
"This is 50 years in the making this scandal. It is absolutely appalling."
She added: "We clearly failed across decades."
