Construction union UCATT have described the Government as being in the pockets of the insurance industry after plans to introduce compensation for asbestos victims were greatly watered down.

In 2010 the previous Labour Government had introduced a proposal that would have ensured that all asbestos victims with a fatal condition who could not trace their employers insurer would receive compensation.

This would be achieved by the establishment of a Employers Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB). All companies offering employers insurance would be obliged to pay a premium into ELIB and then if a victim’s employer had not insured them or the insurer could not be traced, compensation would still be paid.

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In the Queen's Speech the Conservative-led Government announced a Mesothelioma Bill, where only victims of the incurable disease mesothelioma (a cancer affecting the lining of the lungs) will receive compensation.

Victims of asbestos related lung cancer and other fatal conditions who cannot trace their insurer will receive nothing. Only mesothelioma victims diagnosed after July 2012 will receive compensation. The two year delay between Labour opening the consultation on ELIB and the Conservatives going ahead with the proposals, mean that hundreds of mesothelioma victims and their families will receive no compensation.

Steve Murphy, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "Deaths from asbestos are entirely preventable. For decades Governments and employers knew the risks but chose to do nothing. It is disgraceful that even now they are trying wherever possible to deny workers compensation."

(CD)