Outcry over block on asbestos disease pay-outs

Date published: 30/10/2007

Michael Meacher MP is urging the Government to overturn a "nonsense" court judgement which will stop victims of an asbestos-related condition getting compensation.

Mr Meacher  is backing demands for a new law to ensure sufferers of pleural plaques - a scarring of the lungs - receive financial support.

The move follows a Law Lords ruling that sufferers are not entitled to cash because the condition is not life threatening - even though it can make breathing difficult and over time can be accompanied by the development of serious respiratory diseases, including mesothelioma and lung cancer.

The ruling, which left thousands of British workers with the condition unable to make claims, applies only to sufferers of pleural plaques, leaving insurance firms still liable to pay out on other asbestos-related compensation cases.

The number diagnosed with the disease is expected to rise annually until 2015. Mr Meacher said: "I think that it is an outrageous ruling.

"Usually the Lords are liberal and constructive, but this is really unhelpful and unreasonable.

"I find it surprising to hear people say it is not life-threatening, it may not be in every case but it can be."

More than 30 MPs are demanding legislation to ensure pleural plaques sufferers received compensation.