ANGER greeted an announcement that victims of an asbestos-linked condition will be denied compensation because the government ruled they were not genuinely ill.
A Law Lords ruling denying pay-outs to sufferers from “pleural plaques”, a scarring of the lungs which can trigger mesothelioma and lung cancer, will not be overturned, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said.
He said pleural plaques “only very rarely give rise to physical symptoms”, although he accepted they created an “understandable sense of anxiety”.
As a result, only the existing 6,000 sufferers, with claims lodged before the 2007 ruling, will receive “no fault” pay-outs – and only of up to £5,000.
Union Ucatt accused the Government of “abandoning” sufferers.
Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle, whose brother John died from mesothelioma, said: “It appears to have every-thing to do with money and nothing to do with justice.”
