News from Southampton Labour

Alan Whitehead MP calls for justice for pleural plaques victims

Alan Whitehead MP has called on the government to reverse the decision of the Law Lords that denies compensation to pleural plaque victims.

On Wednesday Dr Whitehead, the MP for Southampton Test, rallied with co-signatories to Early Day Motion 254, which calls on the government to take swift action overturn a ruling by the Law Lords from 2007 which renders victims of pleural plaque syndrome as ineligible for compensation.

Dr Whitehead said: “We must overturn this decision by the Law Lords, which denies hundreds of former dockers and ship-builders, in Southampton the compensation they were previously entitled to. The government was right to launch it’s consultation after the Law Lords made this ruling, but now it needs to act on its findings to ensure that every victim of asbestos-related diseases gets a just and fair settlement.”

In October 2007 the Law Lords ruled that pleural plaques victims could no longer claim compensation. The case was brought by the insurance industry, who are set to save in excess of £1 billion if the Law Lords ruling is not overturned.

Following a long running campaign by unions, MPs and asbestos campaigners the Government agreed to consult on whether the Law Lords ruling should be overturned and whether compensation should be paid to Pleural Plaques victims. The consultation closed in early October 2008.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of construction union UCATT, said: “At its best Labour Government’s are about social justice. Pleural Plaques victims deserve compensation pure and simple. A message needs to be sent to employers and the insurance industry that if workers health is damaged at work then compensation must be paid.”

“The delay in the Government’s announcement only benefits one group, the greedy insurance industry. They were more than happy to accept insurance premiums but when it comes to paying even the smallest amount of compensation, they fight tooth and nail to deny worker’s their rightful compensation.”

Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite said: “Having to suffer or watch your relatives suffer from a slow and painful death is horrific. The House of Lords decision in October 2007, which ended the right of asbestos victims suffering from this disease to compensation, deepened this suffering further still.

“Thousands of men and women have been seriously wronged and face the twin blows of knowing they have a very high risk of developing an asbestos-related disease that will kill them, and the denial of the compensation they and their families rightly deserve. These people, their families and their unions are now looking to our Government to right this wrong.”

Unite joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, added: “The Lords’ ruling was a disaster for working people. There is only one cause of this disease and that is the widespread, indiscriminate use of asbestos throughout industry for years. No one protected our people from this exposure, and now they are suffering.

“Compensation must come from those who put them at risk in the first place, and from an insurance industry which made money from that risk. But it is clear that neither employers nor the insurance industry will do right by these workers so we need our Government to make them.”

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