MPs lobbied on behalf of asbestos victims.
Trade unions lobbied parliament this week, demanding that victims of pleural plaques should receive compensation.
The unions want the government to reverse a Lords ruling that pleural plaques, a symptomless scarring on the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos, should no longer be compensable.
The government is looking at how to compensate plaques sufferers, although it has indicated that it is unlikely to reverse the ruling. A consultation on the issue closed earlier this month.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of Ucatt, the construction workers’ union, said: “The government must have the courage to reverse the decision and reinstate the right of those suffering from pleural plaques to receive compensation.”
Graham Goddard, deputy general secretary of Unite, said: “Employers’ insurers want to walk away leaving workers, whose lungs are now full of asbestos, facing a lifetime of worry and not a penny in compensation.”
Insurers are fighting hard to prevent any changes to the law that would make them liable to pay considerable compensation for plaques.
