MPs demand compensation claims right for asbestos victims

Posted 22/10/2009

A group of MPs have met with the prime minister in order to help push through a bill which would allow pleural plaque victims to make compensation claims.

The proposed law has already been ratified by the House of Commons, but delays in the House of Lords may mean it will not be approved before the end of the parliamentary session.

Dave Anderson, Stephen Hepburn and John Cummings have therefore spoken with Gordon Brown to insist that the right for sufferers of the -related illness to make compensation claims is restored.

Mr Anderson told the Evening Chronicle they have “demanded action to ensure that no obstacles are put in the way as the bill goes through the Lords”.

Pleural plaque sufferers have been prohibited from making compensation claims since a House of Lords ruling on the matter in 2007.

The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians is among the industry bodies to condemn the ruling as “unjust” and hail the progress of the current bill as “excellent news”.