AN INQUIRY into the blood contamination scandal that led to the deaths of 2,400 people 'will not be run by the Department of Health', the Prime Minister has said.

Oxfordshire Campaigners who have been searching for answers as to how patients were infected with hepatitis C and HIV from tainted blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, have hailed the announcement as a victory in their search for the truth.

Theresa May was quizzed on the inquiry by local Norwich newspaper the Eastern Daily Press during a visit to the city last week.

She told reporters that her Government would be 'responding fully' after a consultation on the inquiry closed.

She went on to say: "one of the key things that came out of that (the consultation) from people who were consulted is that they did not want the Department of Health to be the sponsoring department for an inquiry and so it won’t be, we will look for another department to sponsor the inquiry.”

One of the victims, Neil Weller, of Southmoor, near Abingdon, said he found the way in which Mrs May had chosen to reveal the developments was 'odd'.

The 46-year-old father of three said: "If it's true, it's great news but if this is the way they are going to do things, it doesn't fill you with hope for the future.

"We haven't had official confirmation, it feels quite hushed up.

"We wouldn't have had any faith in an inquiry run by the Department of Health but now we need all the other pieces to be put in place."